By Sporting Clube de Goa Media

GOA: Two goals from the Sporting striker Odafa Okolie in each half’s and a goal from Marcus saw off a resilient Vasco side beating them 3-1 at Duler Stadium, Mapusa.  Chinedu Ejidgu scored the solitary goal for Vasco SC. The match was a cracker right from the kick off with both teams trying to pocket full 3 points from this fixture.

The first goal came in right after the kick off when Chinedu Ejidgu of Vasco received a good through ball from Aghin Ashokan and caught the Sporting defence off guard making most of the opportunity to put the Port Town team ahead.  With the one goal advantage Vasco SC pressurised the Sporting back line with some fine counter attacking football for most of the first half as they watched numerous opportunities go waste at either ends.

Sporting pulled back through their talisman striker Odafa in the 23’ minute when he created space for himself to unleash a powerful strike which took a wicked deflection of Criston Fernandes to find the nets. This made things interesting as both teams now went on full throttle to try and get the advantage before the brake. The concluding minutes of the first half witnessed an unfortunate accident when Vasco GK Jerson Pereira went in for a full length dive resulting in a clash with Sumeet Passi of Sporting. Both players were injured and needed medical attention. The match resumed shortly and saw off the final minutes end at stalemate.

The second half saw a refreshed Sporting who came in strongly and played some good attacking football right from the start. They had to be patient till the 61^st minute when Ndidi made a fantastic run on the left to find Marcus just at the right spot who scored the second goal putting sporting ahead. The final goal came in at the 87^th minute when a Quan of Sporting was brought down right outside the 16 yard box, Odafa took the resulting free kick to score his second goal of the evening and giving Sporting the cushion they were looking for. The final minutes of the match saw both teams having some attempts at either sides but failed to convert any.

When asked about the match, Coach Mathew said, “I am very pleased with the way we played today. We have the 3 points we wanted and now look forward with confidence to our upcoming match against Churchill.” He also said that he was really impressed with the performance of his junior players who are really proving to be a vital addition to the team.  He further said, “Keeping a clean sheet has been a concern for us and we need to work hard in that area also we have been not converting numerous chances which needs to be addressed.”

Vasco head coach Eban said, “I am disappointed with the result but our boys did play well. The first goal was crucial had we not conceded that it could have been a different story.” He also said the absence of his experienced defenders had left a void in the back line which proved to be costly in this match. Over all he was happy with the teams performance and they will look to improve from the mistakes.