By Sporting Clube de Goa Media
GOA: A man of the match performance from the Skipper Rowllin Borges ensured Sporting secure their pole position in style. Rowllin scored twice from the penalty and set up Ganesh Thakur to score the third to beat Curtorim 3 – 0. Rowllin was instrumental in the midfield winning crucial tackles and leading the charge of Sporting attack.
Sporting got the first real look at Curtorim goal in the 11th minute when a promising move on the left by Rowllin saw his cross go screaming past the nets as Marcus failed to connect what would have been a fantastic diving header. Following which Sporting came close to taking the lead at least thrice as Rowllin was instrumental in the midfield.
Sporting finally broke the dead lock in the 36th minute through a penalty courtesy the custodian of Curtorim Mohamad Shaikh who went on for a rough tackle bringing down Ganesh Thakur in the box. The Sporting skipper Rowllin Borges stepped up and scored from the spot giving Sporting the lead.
The second goal saw a nasty incident in which the already booked Mohamad Shaikh was involved in another reckless challenge against Abhishek Rawat, which resulted in referee giving him the marching orders. The resulting penalty was once again converted in the 40th minute by the captain cool Rowllin Borges giving Sporting the comfortable 2–0 lead before switching sides.
Second half belonged to Sporting completely as the Oranje unit made no mistake to capitalise on the one man advantage as they toyed with the Curtorim defense and kept most of the ball to themselves. Most of this part witnessed the game restricted in Curtorim half as Ganesh Thakur, Marcus Mascarenhas and Ndidi Chukwuma create a gazillion chances which went screaming past the nets.
Finally Ganesh Thakur managed to extend the lead in 57th minute as he collected a through ball from Rowllin to drill in a fantastic right footed shot making it 3 – 0 in favour of Sporting.
One of the best chances for Sporting in the second half was created by the substitute James Fernandes who came face to face against the Curtorim keeper firing a powerful shot in, only to see his effort being denied by the post. The closing stages of the match saw Curtorim put out a wall in the defense giving the Sporting attack a tough time to find the nets.
The Sporting Coach Mathew Costa said – “3 points that’s the only positive. This match is a history; am looking forward to our next challenge. I feel today our performance could have been better.”
He also had a special mention for Rowllin. “Definitely he was the best for us today, he controlled the midfield well and created a lot of chances.” He further added, “Abhishek had a good game too, as I said earlier it is difficult for us to make the choice when a player puts up such a performance.”
