Calangute beat Vasco in the Goa Pro League

Agnelo Colaco shines in Calangute’s win…

Calangute Association continued their excellent form in the league as the North Goa club registered a dominant 2-0 win over Vasco Sports Club in the Goa Professional League match played at Raia Ground earlier today. Vasco were winless in their last six matches, while, Calangute were in the excellent from, as they were unbeaten in their last six matches. The Calangute coach Valentine Euzego made two changes to his side as Sachin Gawas and Savio Quadros found a place in the starting XI, in place of the injured Raju Haldankar and Sunny Fernandes. While, Vasco coach Eban Mesquita made the same number of changes, bringing in Hayson Velho and Faizal Bepari in place of Sudheesh Muthath and Nagesh Naju who were busy with Kerala Football Association trials. The Portside started the match on an attacking note and came up with the first chance of the match within the first minute. Floyd Fernandes setup a perfect pass to Franck Alves Kouassi in the box, but the striker failed to connect with the goalkeeper Melroy Fernandes out of position. Few minutes into the match and Franck came up with another chance, but this time keeper Melroy denied his powerful shot with a diving effort. At the other end, Calangute’s Sachin came up with two perfect crosses but first, Vasco keeper Shilton Fernandes intercept it before Yogesh Kadam could reach it and later Shilton blocked Josley Dias’ shot from close range. While the match was progressing towards the halftime, both the teams created one chance each, but at both ends the custodians did an excellent job. Vasco skipper Jaison Vaz’s shot from the edge of the box directly went into the waiting hands of the keeper Melroy. However, Vasco keeper Shilton had to dive to his left to stop Sachin’s goal-bound shot. Just before halftime whistle, Calangute Coach Valentine brought in striker Agnelo Colaco replacing Runall Shirodkar. On crossing over, the first ten minutes witnessed both the teams cancelling out each other in the final third. In between this, substitute Agnelo drilled a potent shot at the opponent’s goal but Vasco keeper Shilton stylishly fisted it over the crossbar. Next ten minutes again witnessed an end-to-end affair from both the sides. Finally, the North Goa club came up with the opener when Agnelo’s well-directed corner was fashionably headed between the keeper and the defenders by U-20 forward Josley to send the visitors into celebrations. One more chance came Calangute’s way when defender Bonny Dias collected the ball at the halfway line and covered some ground. But, the defender failed to control his chipped shot which dropped just behind the crossbar. In the dying minutes of the match, Vasco tried their best to find the equalizer but Calangute’s defensive line stood strong. On the counter-attack, Agnelo blasted a sparkling shot on the goal which finished in the net, making 2-0 for the North Goa club. The Calangute head coach Valentine was happy after the full-ime whistle and said, “I feel good because my boys really played well today. They are giving their best now. If we continue like this, we will easy cover up the top teams.” With today’s win, Calangute moved to 4th place with 22 points from 11 matches, while Vasco remain 9th in the league table with just 10 points from 12 matches. [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="Related News"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS]