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Clinton Fenandes scored in the dying minutes for Panjim Footballers to snatch an enthralling 3-3 draw from the defending champions Salgaocar FC in the Goa Professional League opener played at Duler Stadium in Mapusa on Saturday.
Panjim Footballers managed to take an early lead through Ruflon Fernandes (8′) however the Green Brigadiers charged back and levelled through Harmanjot Singh (14′) and shot into a 3-1 lead as Gilbert Oliveira (17′) and Devendra Murgaonkar (25′) scored before half-time.
The new entrants who went through a poor season came back stronger and tallied the scores through Harshad Naik (80′) who slotted home a penalty and Clifton Fernandes (90+3′) netting a late 3-3 equaliser.
Panjim Footballers Coach Savio Vaz said, “It is very exciting to earn the first draw against the top-end team as all the boys are juniors, they have been given a chance in the professional league and they have proved themselves that they are worthy of a place here. I was very excited as whatever I told them before the second half, they followed it they worked hard and got a deserving result.”
Meanwhile Salgaocar FC Coach Norbert Gonsalves said, “It is overconfidence nothing else. We dominated in the first half and played up to the mark till the 70th minute. I feel that since the players are unknown and my side took the rivals lightly, this is what went wrong in today’s match. In the upcoming matches we fight harder.”
MATCH STATS
Salgaocar FC 3-3 (3-1) Panjim Footballers
Salgaocar FC: Abhijit Das – Rosario Mendes, Sanson Pereira, Leny Pereira, Joaquim Carvalho – Umesh Harijan, Harmanjot Singh (Agnelo Colaco), Gilbert Oliveira, Ribhav Sardessai (Mackroy Peixoto) – Brian Mascarenhas, Devendra Murgaonkar (Clencio Pinto)
Panjim Footballers: Gurpreet Singh – Prasil Kankonkar, Clive Miranda, Schubert D’Costa, Kunal Kundaikar, Mahesh Kumar (Sachidanand Satelkar), Gautam Dias, Clifton Fernandes, Harshad Naik, Ruflon Fernandes (Lynson Vas), Chandan Gawas (Prisco Moura)
