Salgaocar FC juniors secure third consecutive win in U-20 Taca Goa tournament

Salgaocar FC midfielder Klins Mendes tries to control the ball under pressure from a Cavelossim player.

A dominant Salgaocar FC U-20 crushed Santa Cruz Club of Cavelossim 4-1 to secure their third straight win of the campaign in the GFA Under-20 Taca Goa played at the Cansaulim ground. With this win, Salgaocar Juniors now have 10 points from four outings. The winners led 2-1 at half-time.

The Greens started the brighter of the two sides and saw a lot of the ball early on. It did not take them long to find the opening goal, as striker Naro finished from close after the ball landed at his feet from a Samson Furtado effort on goal.

The initial free-kick on the left for a foul on Dominic Soares landed awkwardly for the keeper who parried away. Naro's try off the rebound, deflected off a defender, which an alert Samson connected firmly at the top of the box and Naro was at hand to give his side an early lead.

The joy was short-lived though as Cavelossim found the equaliser in the 16th minute off a swift counter-attack with a long ball played over the defence for the Cavelossim striker to smartly slot past the keeper.

Myron Borges was guilty of shooting wide minutes before Cavelossim were level after being put through by Jason. Midway through the half, Jason set up Naro who once again failed to beat an onrushing keeper. Salgaocar did however, take the lead six minutes before the break through a superlative solo effort by Jason Barbosa.

A long ball out of defence by Harmanjot Singh saw Jason control it on the edge of the box. After beautifully outsmarting two defenders with the ball still bouncing around, the last named struck on the volley leaving the keeper with no chance.

Cavelossim did create a few chances of their own but were unable to trouble the scorers as Salgaocar went into the break with a one-goal cushion. The second half though saw the Greens come out intent to further increase the lead. Harmanjot on the right wing was particularly full of running and sent in several teasing crosses with Myron failing on a couple of occasions to seal the game in his side's favour.

The third goal did, however, came in the 75th minute from a penalty after substitute Stefen Fernandes was brought down inside the box with the referee having no hesitation in pointing to the spot. The striker who had replaced Naro moments earlier stepped up to calmly find the top right corner, making it 3-1 to The Greens.

Four minutes later, Salgaocar were to add a fourth as Myron's weak effort from a Harmanjot Singh effort saw the ball rebounding off the keeper and coming off a defender before rolling into the net. Salgaocar FC juniors next take on Churchill Brothers SC on May 24.