By I-League Media

GOA: Cross-town rivals Sporting Clube de Goa and Salgaocar FC go head to head in the first Goan derby of the Hero I-League campaign 2015-16 tomorrow.

The first Goa derby will feature Sporting Clube de Goa host Salgaocar FC at the Fatorda Stadium, which is home to the Flaming Oranje. Mateus Costa’s men head into the fixture on the back of a resounding 2-1 victory at the Shree Kanteerava Stadium against Bengaluru FC in the last game week. Sporting Clube de Goa were reduced to 10 men in the 20th minute as Dharmaraj Ravanan was sent off but despite the deficit, they managed to earn a momentary win courtesy the brace from skipper Odafa Okolie.
Sporting Cube de Goa, however, despite having won in Bengaluru, will look to grab all the honours in tomorrow’s derby and maintain the winning spree. They are a little inconsistent so far with their goal scoring which is echoed by the stat that they have scored just five goals and conceded five times in as many games.
The side’s conversion rate will be a concern for Mateus Costa as they head into the all-important game against the side from Vasco.
Salgaocar FC resorted to Santosh Kashyap in a bid to revive their fortunes, after the club parted ways with Malky Thomson post four defeats in as many games.
The former Air India coach began his rescue act with a 1-1 draw against Aizawl FC. He put out a defensive formation with an emphasis of shutting things down for the opposition and it almost earned them a three-pointer, had Reagen Singh not conceded a silly penalty in the dying minutes against the North-Eastern debutants.
The Greens had 10 days to train and have utilized the same to work on their tactics and their passing. They are expected to put out a similar team in the derby as the one that featured against Aizawl FC.
With completely different ideas and inspirations to aim at, undoubtedly the first Goa derby of Hero I-League 2015-16 will prove to be a nail-biter for fans.