Sporting Clube de Goa beat Assnora SC in their second match of GFA U-18 League at Assnora Sports Complex on Tuesday evening. The second-half super sub Cyrus Moura (61’, 64’, 77′) netted a hattrick to seal the match in favour of Sporting Goa.
The match started on a dull note with either side resorting to the long ball technique, Sporting Goa got an early opportunity when Joyson Gauncar set up Joston Cardoz with a good cross on the right, however, the latter could only manage a weak shot. In the next 25 odd minutes, Sporting Goa won several free kicks in promising positions but the takers wasted most of it creating very little pressure on the Assnora lads.
On the other end Akash Kundnekar of Assnora beat the offside trap to come in the shooting range to test the SCG custodian Karol Soares with a powerful right-footer, fortunately for the young Oranje the shot lacked direction. Towards the half-hour mark Trijoy Dias made a dazzling run for Sporting Goa in the mid to get his shot off but was fizzled out after a successful tackle from an Assnora defender. Just before the first half whistle Assnora won a free kick when Sangram Singh got down Sai Patil about 30 yards off the post, Dattaraj Gaonkar who took the responsibility delivered a peach on the top right corner but a vigilant SCG keeper kept the danger out.
The second half saw Sporting Goa coach Savio Vaz introduce Cyrus Moura trying to use his pace upfront to get things moving. Princeton Rebello combined well with Cyrus taking control of the midfield to send in a plethora of passes into the Assnora box. The pressure paid off at the hour mark when Sangram Singh started a move to single out Trijoy on the right who set up Cyrus with a fantastic cross who tapped home the first goal for the Oranje.
The super sub made it two zero less than three minutes later when he got hold of a long ball in the mid to take on two Assnora defenders before launching a thunderbolt sealing the game in favour of Sporting Goa. Assnora had their best opportunity of the match in the 75th minute when a Dattraj Corner beat every orange shirt in the box to find Manthan Pawar but the latter missed the opportunity by a yard stick. In the 77th minute Trijoy made a fantastic run on the right but was brought down by Pranav Gaonkar of Assnora within the box, the obvious choice Cyrus converted a calm penalty making it 3-0 in favour of the Young Oranje.
With this win, Sporting Clube de Goa have pocketed six points from two matches played.