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A 10-men FC Goa development team continued their march up the table with a comfortable 4-2 victory over FC Bardez at the Duler Stadium in Mapusa on Monday afternoon.
Leander D’Cunha opened the scoring in the first half while Lalnunsiama doubled the lead almost immediately after the second half began. Bardez hit back with a goal by Ronil Azavedo and a red card to Brian Faria handed the advantage to Armando Colaco’s men. However, it was the Gaurs who pushed forward and scored their third through Liston Colaco’s penalty. Substitute Krishna Pandit made it 4-1 late on in the half and Ronil Azavedo completed his brace deep into stoppage time.
The Gaurs started the match on the front foot, carving out a few chances immediately after kick off. Leander played Saviour Gama through down the left flank and the defender put in a good first time cross which just about beat the head of a charging Aaren D’Silva. At the other end, Shubham Rao Dessai had a chance on the right but hit an effort straight at Mohammed Nawaz. The Gaurs were attacking with pace as Armando Colaco’s men struggled to keep up. Liston Colaco had a chance to score the opened a few minutes later after Aaren found him with a good long ball. The lanky winger ran at the defence. But with the ball at his feet, the defence was able to catch up with him despite him twisting and turning his way into the box.
Defender Meldon D’Silva almost scored at the wrong end after a cross from the right was accidentally skewed towards his own goal. But Nawaz was alert to the danger and made the stop. The Gaurs began to apply pressure as the half wore on and Aaren was presented with the next chance to score the opener. He was sent through down the middle but his weak shot at goal was easily saved by the goalkeeper. With Clifford Miranda’s men putting opposition defence under pressure, the Gaurs finally netted the opener. Yasir Mohammad found himself in space just outside the box and found the run of Leander D’Cunha with absolute precision. The midfielder took the ball on, ran into the box and sidefooted it to the far post, away from the reach of the goalkeeper.
The Gaurs should have doubled their lead hardly a couple of minutes later when Liston found himself with space in the box and calmly squared the ball to the far post towards Leander who hit his shot above the bar from close range. At the other end, Inacio Colaco was presented with a chance to equalize for the men in pink and blue when he received the ball at his feet with the goal at his mercy but he too skied his effort. Bardez were finding some joy down the right through Shubham who constantly bombed into the box but was unable to produce a quality final ball to trouble the Gaurs’ defence. As the half carried on, the Gaurs looked the likelier side to score another goal but weren’t able to do so despite a number of chances.
FC Goa came out all guns blazing in the second half and doubled their lead almost immediately. They were awarded a free kick on the left after a foul on Saviour and Yasir calmly rolled a low ball into the box into the path of Lalnunsiama who made no mistake poking the ball home from close range. Two should have become three hardly a minute later when Leander put in a peach of a ball across the box towards Aaren whose back heel seemed destined for goal but the keeper got in the way to palm the ball to safety. Bardez however, came roaring back at the other end when another low ball into the box deflected off a Bardez attacker and landed at the feet of Ronil Azavedo who tapped home.
Midway through the half, the men in blue should have had their third after a superb counter-attack. Kingslee Fernandes played the ball to Aaren who looked up and put in a fantastic outside of the foot pass in the direction of Liston who ran at goal, cut back and played a return pass for the striker who continued his run into the box. His finish however, let him down as the goalkeeper got his hands to the ball to palm it away as the chance went begging.
As the Gaurs began to get a foothold on the game, FC Bardez were handed a massive boost after Brian Faria lunged into a tackle, only to be shown his second yellow and a subsequent red card. With the numbers in their favour, Bardez bombed forward in a bid to restore parity to the contest. The Gaurs were forced to retreat and play on the counter. Despite a lot of pressure on the Gaurs’ defence, they were able to get forward occasionally and were finally rewarded for their perseverance when substitute Krishna Pandit found Liston in space ahead of him. The skipper however, was felled before he could take his shot and the referee promptly pointed to the spot. Liston stepped up and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to restore his side’s two goal lead, against the odds. As a result, Bardez were forced to push forward to try and salvage a point and they focused their attack from their left wing in order to exploit the space vacated by the sending off of Brian.
FC Goa were still finding pockets of space on the counter as the opposition poured forward in attack. Liston and Krishna were presented with a couple of chances but neither player was able to convert. Against the run of play, FC Bardez were awarded a penalty after Saviour brought down an attacker in the area. Micky Vaz stepped up and smashed an effort to the right of Nawaz who dived full length and made a stunning save to deny him. From the resulting corner, FC Goa broke forward with Krishna receiving the ball, running at goal and scoring easily to make it 4-1. With time running out, the Gaurs had one more chance to increase their lead, when Liston broke the offside but his first touch from Krishna’s pass was too heavy as the chance went begging.
As it looked like the game would finish 4-1, FC Bardez hit back with a consolation after a poor pass from Jason Barbosa allowed Ronil to run through and beat Mohammed Nawaz at the far post to reduce the deficit and score his second of the evening. Hardly a minute later, the referee called for time on proceedings.
