Sporting Clube de Goa kept themselves in the race for the title as they score a convincing 2-0 win over Fransa Pax in the 15th round of the National Football League (NFL) played at Nehru stadium in Margao on Monday.
Sporting, who led 2-0 at half time, scored through their foreign recruits Edeh Chidi (37th) and captain Dudu Omagbemi.
Fransa did not have a clear look at the rival goal in the first half came but close to scoring in the second half when substitute Marlanki Suiting's shot from inside the box was collected by keeper Luis Baretto.
The win took Sporting to 29 points from 15 matches behind East Bengal (33) and Dempo (31) while Fransa dropped to fifth place behind JCT with 22 points from 15 matches.
Edeh Chidi was declared the man-of-the-match. Dudu Omagbemi, who scored a hat-trick in Sporting's impressive 4-0 win over Fransa in the first leg, once again played the centrestage as he harrased the rival defence along with Chidi.
Sporting could have taken an early lead had it not for the keeper Kalyan Chaubey's timely save off Joseph Pereira in the first 15 minutes.
Dudu, who harried the rival defence with his skills, sliced through Fransa defence and laid a square pass to Bibiano Fernandes, but the later's weak shot was blocked by Santa Singh near the goal line and off the rebound Bibiano's fierce shot kissed the cross bar and went out.
Six minutes later, Dudu again laid a pass to Joseph Pereira inside the box who essayed a powerful left-footer which keeper Kalyan managed to block. The rebound went to Wilton Gomes who lacked direction to find the target.
Sporting kept on the pressure with repeated forays and Dudu himself wasted a chance to score as he drove the ball wide off the target off a pass from Chidi.
After these close shaves, Fransa citadel fell in the 37th minute. Edeh Chidi, collecting a long pass from Adebayo Adewusi, dribbled past Peter Rodrigues inside the box and sent a powerful drive that beat Kalyan to find the net.
Dudu, who is the leading scorer in the league, then increased the lead when he headed home a free kick taken by Wilton Gomes from the left to take his individual score to 12 goals.
After the change of ends, Dudu could have scored his second goal but defender Luis Aniweta timely saved on the goal line and pushed the ball out.
Fransa pushed more in the defence in the second to arrest further goals and came off with occassional counter moves. They had a chance to score late in the match but Marlanki Suiting's shot off a pass from Benjamin Ansah went straight into keeper Luis Baretto's hands.
Referee Chamchuk Lama showed yellow cards to Fransa's Louis Aniweta, Saikhom Singh, Sye Hussein and Sporting's Adebayo Adewusi.
© 2024 Rediff.com -