10-men Guardian Angel hold spirited Vasco in GPL

The Angels registered their second draw in a row.

Guardian Angel Sports Club held Vasco Sports Club to a goalless draw in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium, earlier today.

Vasco who had edged Calangute Association in their opening match had only one change to their side as their coach Micky Fernandes brought in Sanwil D’Costa. Whereas, Angels who had drawn with Churchill Brothers in the last match had no changes to their side.

The match started with an attacking football from the Port Towners but could not break the defensive wall of the Angels. At the other end, Angels also tried to pressurise the opponents with few counters but Vasco defenders kept every danger at the bay.

Angels had a great opportunity in the 18th minutes when a long throw-in by Rosario Mendes was flicked to Nicholas Rodrigues by Cliffon Dias but the winger failed to put power in his header from close as Vasco keeper Sanju Thapa easily collected the same.

Vasco replied with a swift attack from the right flank as defender Shubham Malwankar made a fine long ball to U-20 striker Aman Govekar who easily danced past Angels’ last line and chipped the ball in the goal above advancing keeper Ozen Silva but his goalbound attempt was cleared off the goalline by defender Joaquim Carvalho.

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The rest of the session was restricted to the midfield play as both the side tried to keep the possession, where the Port Towners were the more potent side.

Vasco came out stronger in the second session and marched on the opponents from the start but every time failed in the final third. However, they continued to attack and came close to scoring in the 55th minutes when Minesh Kunkolkar tried his luck from the distance only to see it denied by the crossbar.

Just after the hour mark, Angels were reduced to the ten-men as referee Chandrashekar S. sent off defender James Fernandes following his second booking of the match for a reckless tackle on Anil Gaonkar.

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Vasco coach Micky brought in fresh-leg striker Beneston Barretto to replace exhausted U-20 striker Aman in the last quarter of the match but he could not make any changes to the scoresheet.

Vasco had the best chance of the match in the 76th minutes when Moises D’Sa sent a perfect curler to substitute Rugved Yeole in the box but the winger shot the defender in spite of put ball in the net with Angel keeper Silva completely out of position.