Newcomers Velsao Pale stun Dempo Navhind Times Sports Reporter
Margao, Aug 19: Newcomers Velsao Pale Sports Club stunned holders Dempo Sports Club 2-1 to register their maiden victory in the Hutch-GFA Pro-League at Nehru stadium, Fatorda, here today. All goals were scored in the opening session. Velsaos win was set up by their U-20 recruits as brothers Cavin Lobo and Terence Lobo from Canacona mesmerized their famed rivals by displaying a great sense of opportunism and struck in 16th and 42nd minutes respectively. Dempo, who seemed out of sorts in the first half pulled one back through defender John Dias in the 34th minute. Dempos second half resurgence was cut short by Velsaos experienced goalkeeper Martin Dias who stalled a barrage of attacking moves from his rivals to earn his team three points. Martins superlative goalkeeping won him the man-of-the match prize. In retrospect, Dempo suffered due to some inept goalkeeping by Satish Kumar who seemed laden-footed and failed to react quickly to both the attempts from Cavin and Terence, who worked well in tandem to script a memorable victory for the Pro-League debutants. Dempo, who were held 2-2 by Churchill in the first round, in fact had their moments during the opening half as they forced 11 corners but managed to convert only one of them when John Dias headed home off a set-piece by Clifford Miranda to restore parity in the 34th minute. Velsao appeared to have struck a good rhythm and resorted to flank based attacks through Denis Cabral on the right. Aided by Desmond Fernandes, the experienced Denis harried the Dempo defense until the former set up Cavin with a measured cross only to find the U-20 player hammering a brilliant side volley which whizzed past a hapless Dempo goalie (1-0). The inability to finish off good moves remained the hallmark of Dempos undoing in todays match as Anthony Pereira who set up U-20 striker Clifton Gonsalves muffed a sitter with an open goal staring at him in the 27th minute. Terence struck the lethal blow three minutes before the breather with a neat header off Desmond and paved the way for victory as Velsao held on gamely during the second half with their untiring goalkeeper Martin putting paid to most chances created by Dempo. Dempo, however, had their moments during the closing stages as even a draw could have been the likely verdict but once again poor finishing cost the defending champions an opportunity of salvaging at least a point. Velsao could have buttressed their lead through Francis Barboza but the woodwork denied him a breakthrough. A deserving win: Velsao coach NT Sports Reporter Margao, Aug 19: Velsao Pale coach Eban Mesquita today rated the 2-1 victory over Dempo SC in the Pro-League as one of the best performances by his team. I have no doubt that both Cavin and Terence have great future ahead of them as they simply played to their potential and earned a deserving win for us, an elated Eban informed during a post-match chat. I have no words to express how big this victory means to the team and the entire management. I hope the boys make the best use of this win and maintain their level of performance in future games, Eban observed. Asked whether he hoped to win against Dempo, Eban said: The boys were optimistic of doing well and we all thought that if we managed to score early, Dempo might well feel the heat. Thats what exactly happened. For Dempo the defeat came as a big jolt but coach Armando Colaco was quick to blame complacency on the part of his team for the stunning debacle. The loss is a good lesson for Dempo and may be it is time we woke up and realized our mistakes, Armando maintained after the match. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
