By Sporting Clube de Goa Media
GOA: Akeraj scored a hat-trick while Delbert and Daryl netted one each for Sporting; Ganesh scored a late consolation goal for SAI-Goa.
In what turned out to be a fine evening for football the Sporting Clube De Goa juniors put up a clinical performance to demolish Sports Authority of India – Goa, 5 – 1 in the U 18 I-League clash at the Nagao ground. Akeraj came up with a match winning performance, scoring a hat-trick in the first half and then providing a fine assist the second. It was a solid performance in all departments that made Sporting a ruthless side in this fixture.
The Flaming Oranje juniors who came into this match with just 1 point from the previous two fixtures were determined to prove a point. It took less than 10 minutes from the kick off when Akeraj and Delbert combined well and caught the SAI-Goa defenders off-guard bringing the goal keeper face to face against Akeraj who calmly placed the ball towards the bottom left corner giving Sporting the early lead which they were looking for. From there on the Flaming Oranje were pressing hard and the forwards Delbert and Akeraj created havoc in the SAI – Goa’s 18 yard box.
The second goal came when Akeraj made a fantastic solo run after receiving a good ball from the mid field, dribbling past 2 defenders and beating the GK with strong right footed placement. The centre pass following the second goal was miss-timed right in front of the inform Akeraj who latched on the opportunity gifted with lightening pace, before SAI – Goa defenders could recover from the second goal Akeraj had made it a memorable evening for himself and his team by scoring the third goal of the match thus making the road of recovery for SAI-Goa a far-fetched dream.
In response to the third goal SAI-Goa launched some good counter attacks but failed to find the nets at the other end. Just when it looked like SAI-Goa players were gathering momentum Delbert scored a screamer which will definitely go down as one of the best goals of this tournament. He received a clearance on the half volley outside the 18 yard box and struck it with perfection while everyone on the ground including the SAI-Goa goal keeper just stood still and watched the ball sail into the top left corner of the Goal.
Most of the second half was a well balanced game where both sides started cautiously avoiding any risk inside the box. However one man whom no one could contain for the evening was Akeraj, who found a long ball at the mid way and cruised down the left flank to set up Daryal who was running in from the right to tap the ball in making it the 5th goal for Sporting.
The only consolation goal for SAI-Goa came in the closing stages of the match when Abhijit visualized a through ball, making a run into the box to beat the GK with a good low shot. Over all it had been a formidable performance by the Flaming Oranje juniors and would definitely act as a boost for their upcoming matches.
