Goa Pro League: Vasco edge Sesa FA, Calangute hold Dempo

The Port Towners secured their first win in four games.

Two second half strikes from Altaf Navaloor and Micky Vaz helped Vasco Sports Club to register a 1-2 win over Sesa FA in the Goa Pro League match played at Sesa FA Ground, Sirsai on Monday. Defender Aliston D'Souza and U-20 starlet Warren Pereira were the two changes for the Port Towners who lost in their last match against Corps of Signals. Whereas, Sesa coach Charles Armando Colaco chose to go with the same XI which went down to Guardian Angel SC in the last match. Sesa had the first chance of the match in the fifth minute. Olvin Cardozo made a through pass to Richard Cardoz in the box, but the lad shot wide from close range. Vasco replied with a swift attack from the right flank which resulted in a corner. From Anil Gaonkar's set-piece, Nigerian Olumide Olowolagba headed the ball on target, but Sesa's Olvin cleared it off the line. The Port Towners almost took the lead In the 15th minute. Suraj Mondal nicely cut past a Sesa defender in the box and fed Aliston at the far post. However, his powerful volley hit the crossbar before going out for a goal-kick. [KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS] Vasco wasted another opportunity to take the lead in the 20th minute. Surja nicely curled the ball to Gaonkar in the box, but his shot missed the target narrowly. The Academy Boys also came close to scoring in the 44th minute. Olvin played a beautiful through pass to Richard in the box, but  the Sesa lad shot wide from inside the six-yard box. The Port Towners came out attacking in the second half and finally managed to break the deadlock in the 52nd minute. A perfect free-kick from Suraj was smartly tapped in by  U-20 midfielder Altaf Navaloor to put his side ahead. Energized by the opener, Vasco quickly doubled their lead in the 57th minute. After receiving a through pass from Suraj, Mathew Colaco nicely cut past a defender and setup substitute Micky Vaz in the box. He clinically finished the ball in the net from point-blank range to make it 2-0 for Vasco. [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="RELATED NEWS | ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS] Down by two goals, Sesa regrouped and produced successive attacks on their rivals, but Vasco's strong defence cleared every danger to keep their side safe. In one of these attacks, Shajam P nicely curled the ball to skipper Melvin Lobo, but the latter's header missed the target by a few inches They once again came close to scoring in the 87th minute. Substitute forward Kunal Salgaokar danced past two Vasco defenders at the edge of the box and went for glory, but his powerful strike rebounded off the post. Sesa finally got a golden opportunity to reduce the margin in added-time. Vasco defender Sanwil D'Costa brought down Caitano Viegas in the box to give away a penalty. Skipper Melvin easily converted from the spot to make it 1-2. In the second Goa Pro League game of the day, Dempo SC salvaged a point in injury-time against Calangute Association with a 2-2 scoreline. Domnic Fernandes had put the hosts ahead in the 20th minute, but Dempo youngster Rajat Harijan equalized only a while later. In-form Domnic went on to add another before half-time, as Calangute looked to have won the game. However, Dempo defender Edwin Viegas struck in the dying seconds of the match to earn his side a draw. Click here for the Goa Pro League 2019-20 points table after this match.