The Golden Eagles dominance in the 1st AWES Cup 2017 continued Sunday with a victory over Kerala based team FC Gokulam on penalty kicks (5-2) after a 1 – 1 regulation draw.
The match took place at the Duler Football Stadium in Mapusa. Joaquim Abranches scored the final penalty to propel Dempo SC to victory after FC Gokulam’s Shinu S missed his attempt.
In the penalty shootout, Gokulam missed their second and third attempt, while Dempo made it on all four of their tries. The final score was 4 – 1. Beevan D’ Mello, Naveen Mendes, Nickson Castanha and Joaquim scored for the champion side. Ashik Usman scored whereas Arjun Jayaraj and Shinu S missed their attempts on the opposing side.
“I’m very delighted, the boys are playing very well, I think this is the beginning of the season, they are young, enthusiastic and I’m extremely pleased with the way they are playing. I think with more exposure it will be a good team to watch in the future”, said Mr. Shrinivas V. Dempo, President Dempo SC.
A jam-packed stadium witnessed Dempo SC’s win over FC Gokulam. Adelaja Somide opened the scoring in the first half for the visitors but a self goal by Gokulam defender Ogochukwu Godswill in the second half set up the penalties.
Dempo were deserving winners, considering they controlled the majority of play, and in the 4th minute itself the home team was close to scoring their first goal when a Mario Mascarenhas cross in front of the goal post found Kapil Hoble but experienced Sushant Mathew headed the ball out of danger.
Although Dempo SC dominated play, there was no goal scoring attempts by Gokulam FC Adelaja Somide to score again in the finals and give the lead to his team in the 31st minute, when he dribbled past Blues defender and placed the ball above the goalkeeper Agnelo Gomes 1 – 0.
In the 38th minute, Beevan chest set ball to Yogesh Kadam and latter through ball to left medio Mario shot deflected to the corner. Gokulam with 1 goal to their credit then entered the dressing room.
President of Dempo SC Mr. Shrinivas V. Dempo thanked the supporters. “I’m thankful to all the supporters because I have seen a match stadium being filled to capacity after a very long time. That shows the power of supporters who have showered affection on us for a long time. I must thank supporters who have come here in large numbers.”
On resumption, Irshad T.V. had a couple of chances to double the lead, but they came to nought.
The hosts were struggling to get the goal score even after dominating the match. It was in the 74th-minute when substitute Joaquim Abranches’s ball to Mario who delivered a cross from right in the danger area and in the process of clearing Gokulam defender Ogochukwu Godswill deflected the ball into their own goal 1 – 1.
In the add-on time of the second half, the hosts had two corner kicks but failed to take advantage, with the score line frozen at 1 – 1 after the final whistle. The action then moved to a penalty shoot out.
Penalty Shootouts: Beevan D’Mello scored his 1st goal for Dempo, Ashik Usman scored for Gokulam to equalize. Naveen Mendes scored 2nd and Agnelo Gomes stopped Gokulam’s Arjun Jayaraj shot thereby giving Dempo a lead. Nickson Castanha scored for Dempo and Shinu S’ shot went wide giving a double advantage to the home team. Joaquim Abranches was entrusted with a championship kick, making no mistake in putting the ball into the net and helping Dempo Sports Club to lift the 1st AWES Cup 2017.
