By Sporting Clube de Goa Media

GOA: The match started off in a high voltage fashion with either side creating numerous chances even before the clock hit five minutes.  Sporting were the dominant team for most of the first quarter as Odafa Okolie and Mauvin Borges saw their attempts go screaming past the nets. For Churchill Seriton Fernandes kept knocking the Sporting nets with some smart play on the right flanks.

The first major event of the first half came in the 12^th minute when the Churchill goalkeeper Aliston Fernandes went into the referees books for bringing down Ganesh Thakur of Sporting inside the box. The captain Odafa Okolie stepped up to the occasion; however Aliston managed to do some damage repair with a fine dive towards his right to deny Odafa the golden opportunity to put Sporting ahead.

The focus then shifted towards the Sporting box as Churchill stepped up the attack on both flanks. First blood of the match was drawn in the 27^th minute by Seriton Fernandes who created the goal all by himself when he dribbled past two of the Sporting defenders and beat the keeper to give Churchill the crucial lead.

In what turned out to be a nightmare for Churchill defense, Elvis Barreto conceded a hand ball within in the 16 yard box when he tried to stop a powerful shot of Quan Gomes. Referee had no hesitation in signalling the second penalty kick of the evening for Sporting. Odafa stepped up once again this time making no mistake and putting the ball past Churchill keeper to level things before changing ends.

The second half saw a rather calm start with both teams trying to take control of situation and maintain most of the possession in the midfield. Towards the 70^th minute Sporting came up with a wave of attacks but failed to convert.  Sporting finally managed to break the dead lock in the 80^th minute when Creson Antao latched on to a dipping cross from Cajetan of the corner to calmly head it past the Goal keeper to give Sporting a deserving lead.  In the closing stages saw Churchill players run out of steam as Sporting missed adding at least 2 more to the score line. The best of it came when Odafa got a powerful shot of the volley only to see it being saved by the wood work. With this win Sporting pip Churchill to gain the top spot in Goa Pro League making the title race even more interesting.