GPL 2019-20: Sporting Club Goa share spoils with Salgaocar in Goa Pro League

The Flaming Orange maintained their top spot with seven points from three matches.

The Goa Professional League witnessed the first goalless draw of the season as Sporting Club Goa were held by Salgaocar FC in a goalless stalemate on Sunday.

Salgaocar coach Levino Pereira made three changes to his team, which went down to Sesa FA in the last match. U-20 keeper Nora Fernandes, Selwyn Miranda and Steflon D’Costa found their names in the starting XI. Sachidanand Satelkar was the only change for the Flaming Orange, who defeated Dempo SC in their previous match.

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Salgaocar should have taken the lead in the early minutes, however, Devendra Murgaonkar and Steflon failed to convert early chances. A few minutes later, Mackroy Pixoto tried to find Chaitan Komarpant in the box with a long cross but Sporting Club Goa keeper Melroy Fernandes came out of his position to clear the danger.

Sporting Club Goa, who had won their last two matches, took some time to settle down. They had two opportunities in the next few minutes but Stendly Fernandes and Dattaraj Gaonkar failed to capitalise on opportunities.

Failing to create any potent chances in the first 40 minutes, Sporting Club Goa coach brought in Akeraj Martin, however, he could not make any changes to score sheet in the first half.

Salgoacar had a good chance to take the lead in the added time when Brandon Gomes’ back pass to Sporting keeper Melroy was intercepted by Chaitan. However, Chaitan's flick in the empty goal was cleared by Sporting defender Joseph Clemente.

Marcus Mascarenhas’s unavailability due to injury was clearly felt for Sporting as they were not able to build pressure on the rivals. Going into the second half, Sporting Club Goa failed to create any chance as well.

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Sporting Club Goa's Joseph once again rescued his team in the second half when Salgaocar defender Godfray Mascarenhas tried to assist Devendra from the deep right flank. Joseph made a diving effort to clear the danger at the cost of a corner.

Sporting Club Goa used their remaining substitutions as Peter Carvalho and Joston Cardoz replaced Stendly and Sachidanand respectively. The substitutions brought more pace in the match for Sporting as they came close to scoring with just a few minutes remaining on the match clock. Joston went for glory from outside the box but Salgaocar keeper Nora blocked his goal-bound strike, only to be cleared by Saurabh Patil.