Inter Kashi 0
lost to
Dempo Sports Club 2 (Damian Perez Roa 42’, 81’)

AIFF Media Team

KALYANI: Ashish Sibi’s heroics in Dempo’s goal helped the visiting side take a huge 2-0 win against 10-man Inter Kashi in the I-League 2024-25 on Friday, February 7, 2025.

Argentine striker Damian Perez Roa’s goals at the end of each half guaranteed them the points and their second win in the last eight games. Inter’s loss meant they missed a chance to haul back some points on the two teams above them on the table.

While title aspirants Inter Kashi were left rooted to the third place in the points table with 21 points from 13 matches, Dempo now have 17 points from 13 outings.   

The first half exploded into action almost immediately, with the home side utterly dominant in the early going, even if their aggressive approach also led to several fouls. The first real chance was created by Matija Babovic, who collected Edmund Lalrindika’s pass from the right wing, and in one smooth motion, turned to shoot at the Dempo goal. It ran wide. 

A few minutes later, Sarthak Goloui blazed high from outside the box after an intricate Inter Kashi move found him with the ball. Just as it seemed that Inter Kashi were knocking at the door and closer to getting the opener, disaster struck. Having picked up an early card, defender Sandip Mandi was shown a second yellow for a reckless challenge in the 36th minute, reducing the hosts to 10, with an hour of the game to play. 

Things got worse six minutes later, when Juan Mera and Damian Perez Roa combined to score the opener for Dempo. The former’s brilliant run culminated with a perfect cutback to the centre of the box, which Damian slammed first time into the far corner. Dempo had a shock lead. 

Inter Kashi’s 10 men weren’t about to go away though, and right at the end of the half, almost drew level. First, Babovic, played through, one on one, slid a shot towards goal only to be thwarted by Ashish Sibi’s outstretched leg. The goalkeeper’s brilliance wasn’t done though. From the badly cleared follow up, Lalrindika picked up the ball, swerved and turned before firing towards the far corner from outside the box. At full stretch Sibi palmed it away. 

Sibi’s heroics kept Dempo’s lead intact well into the second half. The keeper bettered his saves with every attempt, palming the ball away with one hand in the 60th minute, when Lalrindika had run free into a one on one, and attempted to dink the ball into goal. 

Five minutes later, Kashi had a penalty, when Domingo Berlanga was adjudged to have been brought down inside the box by Shallum Pires. The Spaniard lined up the spot kick, and shot low, towards the bottom corner. Despite having overshot his dive, Sibi adjusted, to palm it away. Dempo’s lead remained intact.

Dempo’s goalkeeper had single-handedly kept his side in the game and ironically, Kashi’s defence and goalkeeper combined to ensure the hosts’ collapse. In the 81st minute, Arindam Bhattacharya came way off his line to deal with a long ball from Dempo. At the same time, defender V Bijoy, unaware, looked to head the ball back towards safety. Their calamitous communication gifted the ball to Roa, who ran it into the goal to double Dempo’s lead. Despite a few half scares right at the end, they held on to take a big win.