Sporting Goa end their season with defeat against Churchill Brothers

The Flaming Orange registered 17 victories, four draws and a defeat this season.

Churchill Brothers Sports Club handed over the first defeat to Sporting Clube de Goa as they defeated the champions by a 2-1 margin in their last Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium earlier today.

With this win, Churchill has just 23 points from 20 outings, while, Sporting concluded their season with 55 points.

Churchill coach Alfred Fernandes made four changes to his side following their 3-3 draw in the last match against Dempo SC as goalkeeper Ricardo Cardozo, Banpynkhrawnam N, Janak Kudmal and Sam Seby Palha made into the cut for the Red Machines, whereas Sporting gaffer Mateus Costa made only one change bringing in Joseph Pereira to replace Deryl Costa after defeating Dempo in the last match.

Though Sporting started the match on attacking note, it was Churchill who created the first potent chance of the match in the 19th minute when defender Israil Gurung set up Trinidadian forward Willis Plaza with a superb through pass but Sporting keeper Melroy Fernandes came off his line to clear the danger on time.

However, in the 25th minute, Sporting custodian was completely helpless when Plaza collected a perfect floater pass from Valerio Rodrigues and shot on the goal from the top of the box, which entered far past to put the Red Machines into the lead.  

Sporting also had a chance in the 34th minute when Glan Martins made a through pass to Nigerian striker Philip Odogwu but Churchill keeper Ricardo smartly left his place to clear the danger before the striker could do any damage.

Another chance for Sporting went begging in the 44th minute when Marcus sent a diagonal pass to Philip in the box but the Nigerian forward failed to keep his shot on target from close.

However, in the added time, Sporting got the best chance to equalise when Churchill keeper Ricado brought down Alesh Sawant where Referee Sainath Haldankar quickly pointed towards the penalty spot but Marcus’s shot was acrobatically saved by the Churchill custodian but referee awarded a retake to Sporting where once again Marcus stepped up and made no mistake to beat the keeper.

Three minutes later, referee Sainath once again pointed towards the penalty spot but this time in favour of the Red Machines as Sporting defender Sodiq Ibrahim brought down Plaza in the box where Israil banged the ball in the back of the nylons from the spot to restore their lead.

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On crossing over, both the sides had a chance each but first, Marcus header off Alesh’s perfect cross went just inches away from the target, while Churchill substitute striker Uttam Rai was left with just keeper Melroy to beat but the custodian came off his line thwart the striker.

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A few minutes later, Churchill once again came close to scoring when Valerio tried his luck from the distance with a fierce volley only to see it denied by the side post.

The later part of the match saw both the teams equally contesting for the goal but neither of the sides succeeded to find the net until the full-time whistle.