panjim sept 2015 … Mapusa : In a riveting Round 3 clash of the Goa Professional League played at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, local favourites Calangute Association backed by a vociferous crowd held defending champions Salgaocar FC to a goalless draw on saturday.
Rocus Lamare made his first start this season and led the side in the absence of Darryl Duffy. Scottish gaffer chose to go with experience in the midfield in the form of Martin Scott and Saran Singh with the U-20 players Myron Borges and Jason Barbosa played upfront.
It was a fast paced and lively opening to the game with neither side establishing total control or superiority with the ball confined mostly to the midfield in the opening exchanges. With clear cut chances coming at a premium, 0-0 would have to be a fair result.
The first clear chance of the game fell to Myron Borges in the 26th minute with keeper Jason pulling off a fine save under the Calangute bar. Immediately at the other end, Felix Odili failed to beat Bruno Colaco with a header from inside the 6-yard box. Salgaocar settled down well thereafter and controlled large portions of the game but seemed to lack creativity in the final third.
Deep into stoppage time at the end of the first half, Salgaocar earned a free-kick on the edge of the box after a Calangute defender was adjudged to have handled the ball. Salgaocar were unable to utilise the opportunity but the referee had everyone guessing off the resultant flag-kick as he blew his whistle as Pawan appeared to be tripped but bizarrely just played a drop ball to re-start proceedings.
In the second half, Salgaocar made several forays into the rival box with substitute Gilbert Oliveira proving effective. Umesh Harijan who came on for the off-colour Varinder Singh did have a couple of opportunities but headed over. The Greens kept committing more men forward looking for the elusive winner with Calangute happy to sit back and hit on the break.
Eventually Calangute Association did hold on for a valuable point and thereby took their tally to 7 points from 3 games with 2 wins and a draw whilst Salgaocar FC who are also unbeaten have accumulated 4 from 2 outings with a win in the opening fixture prior to the goalless encounter today.
As part of it’s marketing and promotional campaign and in an attempt to increase attendances at the stadium, Salgaocar FC organised a ‘Predict and Win’ Contest at the Stadium with fans required to predict the final outcome to stand a chance of winning some fantastic club merchandise.
The club did receive a fantastic response with a total of close to a thousand entries submitted, a few of whom had predicted a 0-0 score line. GFA Vice President, Mr. Lavinho Rebello pulled out the names of the 2 lucky winners and handed over the prizes.
