Goa scored a lone goal victory over Services in the their Group B quarter final league match of the 63rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, at Nehru Stadium, Chennai, on Friday.
Services started the game on a positive note and had a chance in the first minute of the game but Raleng shot was off target. Services were reduced to ten men in the 11th minute as custodian Robikanta Singh handled the ball outside the box and was immediately sent off. Services coach substituted striker Raleng for his second custodian VV Sujan Suku.
Goa tried to capitalize on the situation but all their attempts went in vain in the first half. Mahesh Gawli headed the ball but was cleared off the goal line in the 20th minute and two minutes Wilton Gomes shot from left had VV Sujan Suku punching it to safety.
In the 39th minute Marcus Mascarenhas failed to convert off a Wilton Gomes cross from the left flank as the ball was cleared by the Services defenders. Six minute later Goa were awarded a free kick as Beevan D Mello was brought down but Sujan made a diving save off a Climax Lawrence shot and the match entered into the lemon break with score card reading 0-0.
The start of the second half had Goa playing a more settled and a dominating game.
In the 50th minute Marcus Mascarenhas had a chance to give Goa the lead but he failed to get it past Sujan. But six minutes later Climax Lawrence received a cross from Fulgancio Cardozo and the former found the back of the net to give Goa a 1-0 lead.
Services stood firm despite conceding a goal and continued playing an aggressive game and in the 88th minute a powerful shot from Manish Negi had Goa custodian, Felix D’ Souza making a diving safe to defy Services from scoring the equalizer.
Source:the-aiff.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Friday 5 June 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.