SCOREBOX: Cortalim Villagers 0 Sporting Clube de Goa 2 (Joel Colaco 8', Joyson Gauncar 68')
PANAJI
Sporting Clube de Goa cruised to a comfortable victory over Cortalim Villagers SWSC in the Goa Professional League at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Wednesday.
The Flaming Oranje took control early, with Joel Colaco’s acrobatic half-volley opening the scoring, while substitute Joyson Gauncar secured the result with a second-half strike.
Cortalim, coming off a draw against Guardian Angel SC, saw coach Jude make two tactical changes, bringing in Velroy Carvalho at right-back and Jaison Vaz, who wore the captain’s armband, as the target man in attack. Meanwhile, Sporting Clube head coach Armando Colaco, fresh from a tight win over Churchill Brothers, shuffled his squad. Abhimanyu Singh took his place in goal, Joyner Lourenco bolstered the defence, Ivon Costa anchored the midfield, and Naocha Singh, alongside Crespo D’Souza, provided width on the wings. Leading the attack were Francisco Fernandes and former Cortalim forward Vikram Venkatachalam.
Sporting Clube started with high intensity, pushing for an early advantage. Their efforts bore fruit in just the 8th minute when Joel Colaco broke the deadlock with a spectacular half-volley. Ivon Costa’s short pass to Dattaraj Gaonkar set up a clever backheel return that left Cortalim’s defence scrambling. Ivon then delivered a pinpoint cross to Joel, who acrobatically fired it home with his first touch, giving Sporting Clube the lead.
Cortalim had a golden opportunity to level in the 28th minute when Ronil Azavedo weaved his way down the left and unleashed a curling effort that rattled the crossbar, narrowly missing the equalizer.
The Flaming Oranje nearly doubled their lead early in the second half when Joyson Gauncar danced through Cortalim’s defence and sent a dangerous ball across the six-yard box, but no one was there to finish. However, Gauncar didn’t miss his next chance. In the 68th minute, he latched onto a perfectly weighted through ball from Selwyn Miranda, cutting inside before curling a precise right-footed shot into the net, extending Sporting Clube’s advantage.
Cortalim threatened again when Ronil slipped a shaky pass to Navneeth, who took a touch and fired towards goal, but the connection was lacking, leaving Sporting Clube’s clean sheet intact.
