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Sporting Clube de Goa played out a goalless draw against FC Bardez in a Goa Pro League encounter at the Duler Stadium in Mapusa on Tuesday evening. Ahead of the kick off both teams observed a minute silence in solidarity towards the players of Brazilian side Chapecoense FC and everyone else who perished in the Colombian air crash.
The late evening kick-off saw Sporting Goa Gaffer Mateus Costa make three changes to his side that drew against Guardian Angel SC. Skipper Loveday Eninnaya was back after serving his suspension replacing Ponif Vaz while Quan Gomes and Joseph Pereira made the cut at an expense of Victorino Fernandes and Seriton Fernandes.
The first half saw a fantastic 45 minutes of end to end stuff from both sides. Right in the opening minute Glan Martins of Sporting Goa got hold of a loose ball in the midfield to fire a good shot which went inches wide of the post. 7 minutes into the game FC Bardez won a free kick at the edge of the box, a dangerous looking shot was punched away by Ravi Kumar and later cleared by skipper Loveday to give the visitors some breathing space.
Around the 20th minute Sporting Goa’s Ghanaian forward Dadzie fired a shot on target from about 35 yards away, but the FC Bardez keeper Mirshad Koottappunna made a full stretch dive to make the decisive save. FC Bardez should have taken the lead in the 22nd minute when an Alesh Sawant cross found an unmarked Latesh Mandrekar within the box in a hand shaking distance from the goal, but the latter lost his footing giving Sporting Goa defenders the opportunity to clear with ease. Sporting Goa had their best opportunity of the first half in the 41st minute when Dadzie took a good swing only to find his strike once again blocked by a determined Bardez keeper. The match stayed goalless in the first half.
Crossing over both teams were cautious trying to avoid any danger. In the first quarter of the second half FC Bardez enjoyed more opportunities. In the 52nd minute Richard Costa’s chipped a good ball to find Girish Naik in the box who managed to beat the keeper only to see the woodwork in the way. In the next five minutes FC Bardez created two promising moves but couldn’t get the finishing touch.
On the hour mark Sporting Goa got back into the groove when their striker Daryl shot inches wide of the post. In the 67th minute Victorino made a dazzling run from the right flank beating his marker to win a corner for Sporting Goa. The Flaming Oranje had their best opportunity of the match in when their skipper Loveday rose high to punch in a good header, but it was saved heroically by Cavin Soares who displayed great reflexes. Towards the closing stages Sporting Goa made some promising moves through Victorino and Dadzie but failed to find the target.
With this draw Sporting Clube de Goa stay on top with 29 points from 13 matches while FC Bardez stay fifth with 23 point from 12 matches.
