Goa scored a convincing 5-0 victory over Maharashtra in their Group B quarter final league match to enter in to semi finals of the 63rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, at Nehru Stadium, Chennai on Sunday.
Maharashtra had no one but their defence to be blamed for the defeat as they never marked any of the Goa strikers allowing them to intrude into the danger zone at regular intervals.
Match started with Maharashtra making the first move and a Dias cross had Nelson Nicolas Cardoz shot blocked by Mahesh Gawli. Apart from this there were no moves made by the Maharashtra forwards and mid fielders.
In the 18th minute Wilton Gomes shot was well punched by Maharashtra custodian Amit Nandi to give Goa a flag kick. Beevan D’Mello utilized the situation well as he was left unmarked and headed the ball in to give his team a 1-0 lead. Goa got couple of chances in next five minutes but they failed to capitalize on them. In the 29th minute Beevan was left unmarked and he got the ball past Maharashtra custodian Amit Nandi to give his team a 2-0 lead.
Six minutes later Maharashtra’s defence was left stranded once again with Wilton Gomes cross was tapped in by Marcus Maserenhas to give his team a 3-0 lead. Just before the lemon break Maharashtra made a good move but Dane Pereira shot over the bar from outside the box.
The script in the second half was no different as Goa kept on attacking at Maharashtra den and Marcos Mascarenhas received a long cross in the right flank and the striker made a darting run in the 55th minute to find the back of the net as Goa took a 4-0 lead.
With a 4-0 lead the game was played more in the mid field area as the victors had better ball possession. Just before the final whistle, Beevan cross had Marcos tapping the ball in to score his hat trick of the evening and give Goa a comfortable 5-0 victory.
Source: the-aiff.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Monday 8 June 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.