Sporting nick Police Cup

NT NETWORK

BAMBOLIM

Sporting Clube de Goa coach Mateus Costa substituted captain Glan Martins with Ganesh Thakur, early in the second session, and it was enough for them to add the Goa Police Cup- for the first time- to their trophy chest with a resounding 3-1 win over Churchill Brothers in the finals of the 15th Goa Police Cup at the Athletic stadium in Bambolim on Friday.

Four goals in the second session added glimmer to the finals which saw both teams play picky football in the first forty five minutes.

Sporting Clube de Goa started with a chance in the very first minute but, Philip Odogwu failed to get the ball in. Churchill retaliated through a counter a few seconds later but this time Uttam Rai failed to finish a creative run by Churchill’s Francis Onyeama on the left flank.

The game was played on a slow tempo with both teams opting to attack on the counters. Sporting Clube enjoyed the game for the first half an hour – taking the ball into the Churchill box but fumbling once due to their indecisiveness, once inside.

Churchill brothers had three gilt chances towards the end of this session and it was due to reflex saves of Sporting goalkeeper Melroy that both teams had to troop for the breather with the goal line reading 0-0.

Melroy Fernandes first stopped an Uttam Rai header from going in and a few minutes later made a double save, denying Israel Gurung from scoring. These saves by Melroy added a different tang to the final. The second half saw a different Sporting after Ganesh came in for Glan Martins. Ganesh made space for himself; space that gave his opponents plenty of room and opportunities to score with ease. And, the scoring started around the hour mark when Ganesh seeing Quan Gomes alone to his right, tapped the ball to the last names to take an angular shot that beat Churchill keeper James Kithan for the first time.

As often, the goal had an effect on the Churchill boys. However, they fluffed an opportunity in the very next minute with three players unable to shoot with the ball bouncing in the Sporting box. The missed chances did not deter the Churchill players and it was once again goalkeeper Melroy who came to his teams rescue, fisting away beautiful floaters by Francis and Israel Gurung.

Sporting brought a stop to this Churchill onslaught with a second goal around the 75th minute when Cajetan Fernandes headed in the second after Marcus Mascarenhas had done the spade work.

Sporting Clube de Goa made the issue safe when Ganesh made space for himself in the Churchill box and on receiving a long pass coolly slotted home powerfully with the Churchill goalkeeper completely beaten.

Alber Gonsalves had an off day for Churchill Brothers, unable to make any constructive runs down his flank. His ball possession was lackadaisical and ability to cross of control the ball erratic. But, Churchill Brothers gave a chance to Nicholas Fernandes and James Fernandes and the last named score the consolation goal for the losers in the dying stages of the game. Nicholas sent in a nice cross to James who tapped in past sporting keeper Melroy with the Sporting defense totally beaten.