Mackwil, Milagres doubles steer Curtorim Gymkhana into semis

CURTORIM: Mackwil Fernandes and Milagres Fernandes scored brace each as Curtorim Gymkhana hammered Navelim Sporting Club 4-1 to seal their spot in the semifinals of the Curtorim Villagers Cup football tournament, at church grounds, Curtorim on Thursday.

Curtorim Gymkhana went into the lead in the very 3rd minute when striker Mackwil Fernandes raced down the right flank and after receiving a through pass banged the ball to the far corner of the Navelim Sporting nets, beating keeper Jeet Gupta.

Goaded by the early success, Curtorim Gymkhana then began raiding the rival citadel and soon in the 16th minute buttressed their lead through Milagres Fernandes, whose angular effort off a pass from Mackwil gave no chance at all to the Navelim keeper.  Eleven minutes later, in the 27th minute, Curtorim Gymkhana scored their third goal as Mackwil yet again struck to complete his brace with an angular effort.

Two minutes later, Navelim Sporting suddenly went into the offensive when Fr Americo Rodrigues, who did a lot of overlapping from the defensive position, passed the ball to a well-placed Aulon Gomes whose try entered the nets beating Curtorim Gymkhana keeper Johnson Baghat.

The second session was played almost on an even footing with both teams trying to outwit each other with some good moves as the ball rolled on from one end to the other.

Curtorim Gymkhana, having almost assured their victory, did not exert much in the second session and mostly relied on their defenders to do the job of keeping the rival strikers at bay.

Manuel Castanha and Caitan Viegas kept the Curtorim Gymkhana defence strong as they quelling most of the moves made by Navelim Sporting. At one stage, Navelim striker Aulon Gomes almost found the mark but the Curtorim Gymkhana keeper dived to his right and prevented the ball from entering the nets.

As the match entered into the 57th minute, Milagres Fernandes scored with an elegant effort to hand Curtorim Gymkhana their fourth goal and in the process also completed his brace. The last seven minutes of play were rather slow and neither of the team made any worthwhile effort to find the mark.