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Umesh Harijan is awarded the Man of the Match Award in the presence of Benjamin Silva, President of GSPL.
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FATORDA: Salgaocar FC edged past FC Bardez 7-6 via sudden death in the Goa Sevens Premier League match, played at SAG ground, Fatorda, on Monday.
FC Bardez’s Alesh Sawant will have the night to forget as he missed both the spot kicks in the tie-breaker and sudden death respectively, to let down his team in the shootout after matching their opponents for the first 60 minutes.
Both teams missed the opening spot kicks as the keepers pulled of stunning saves. Umesh’s spot kick was brilliantly save by FC Bardez’ Jeet while Alesh Sawant was denied by Salgaocar’s Jason.
With the scores level 4-4, the teams were pushed for a sudden death where Umesh made amends for his earlier miss and scored past helpless Jeet Gupta while FC Bardez’s Alesh Sawant saw his spot-kick kiss the cross bar.
By virtue of this win, Salgaocar FC gain two vital points while FC Bardez walk with a point.
Both teams started the match on equal footings, however the Greens almost took the lead in the 2nd minute but Brian Mascarenhas’ shot hit the post and went out of play.
At the other end, Salgaocar keeper Jason denied FC Bardez’s Jessel Carneiro in the fifth minute.
With both teams maintaining possession in the first half, Salgaocar FC were denied again by the post in the 15th minute when Nicolau Colaco tried a long range shot from his own half.
Changing side, the North Goa team came back strongly with Alesh testing the keeper on several occasions but Jason stood tall to deny the former Churchill Bros lad.
Despite enjoying better ball possession, the Greens found themselves on the back foot in the final 15 minutes of the game.
FC Bardez’s Alesh found Shubham lurking infront of the goal, but the latter missed an open sitter as he shot wide.Minutes later, Alesh saw his shot sail inches over the bar.
Salgaocar’s Clencio Pinto made two fine runs in the rival box in with 10 minutes to go and both his moves almost gave the Greens the goal.
First he saw his effort hit the cross bar while his second move was brilliantly saved by Jeet. The scores were level 0-0 at the end of regulation time.
Salgaocar’s Umesh Harijan was awarded the Man-of-the-Match award, while Andrea Fernandes was the housie winner. Evancio Quadros handed over the bike keys in the presence of Benjamin Silva, President of Goa Sevens Premier League .
