Salgaocar SC 2-1 Sporting Clube de Goa – Nine-men champions win the Goan derby

Salgaocar SC produced a strong display of courage and resilience as they beat a fairly dominant Sporting Clube De Goa 2-1 at the Nerhu Stadium. The victory was earned after they were down to nine men and Karim Bencherifa was sent to the stands after protests with the fourth officials.

The result puts the defending I-League Champions seven points behind league leaders Dempo, who also won their clash beating Pailan Arrows 2-0. A hugely charged up Goan derby saw defender Rahul Kumar, and midfielder Ishfaq Ahmed sent off for the home side, as Kalu Ogba missed a penalty for Sporting.

The setback leaves the other team from the Fatorda Stadium on 30 points from 20 matches and manager Ekendra Singh will be disappointed with his players for not having got anything out of a match in which they held the upper hand for the majority of its length.

It was the team higher up in the league that drew first blood though. After a good start Sporting custodian Ashok Singh’s block off striker Edeh Chidi’s shot fell to Beevan D’Mello who hit home the first goal of the match in 23 minutes. This was the cue for Sporting to react and they did so quite well, as Salgaocar clearly missed Ryuji Sueoka in the middle. Jovel Martins found plenty of time and space to cross towards James Moga in the 32nd minute but the striker failed to convert.

An appalling miss was to follow in the 36th minute as Dawson Fernandes missed a clear chance by complicating his shot and blasting it wide. All of this left Salgaocar in a pretty delicate position at half time, and it did not help calm down the supporters once the game restarted.

Sporting again held greater authority, but Salgaocar proved why they won the league last season with a quick counter attack that saw Ishfaq pass the ball to Tomba Singh and from 40 yards out, the striker’s shot found the back of the net.

But Sporting finally found a result to their domination as a James Moga chest down from a Freiman Piexoto cross saw Kalu Ogba reduce the deficit with a goal for Sporting. And they were given a further shot in the arm as Rahul Kumar saw red for tripping down Kalu Ogba in the 75th minute and just two minutes later Ishfaq got his second yellow of the match as Salgaocar were reduced to nine men, and even manager Karim Bencherifa was sent to the stands after arguments with the fourth official.

Despite these major setbacks Sporting were denied any share of the spoils, as Salgaocar hung on for all three points.

The victors also had to thank goalkeeper Karanjit Singh who produced a brilliant save from Mackroy Peixoto in the closing stages. Also Kalu missed a penalty after Rahul Kumar’s sending off, as Sporting will look at this as an opportunity wasted to add three points to their tally. Salgaocar will hope to gain in on leaders Dempo after the break as they next face East Bengal Bengal in Kolkata on the March 25.

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