Srinagar: J&K’s football club, Downtown Heroes FC suffered its second consecutive defeat in the in a Group D fixture of the 132nd Durand Cup as they were thrashed by FC Goa by 3-0 at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, on Wednesday.
Two first half goals by Muhammed Nemil and Carlos Martinez and a second half injury time goal by Devendra Murgaokar helped FC Goa beat Downtown Heroes FC 3-0. FC Goa have taken the top spot in the group with seven points with a positive goal difference of nine. This is the second straight defeat for Downtown Heroes in the tournament and they will face Northeast Unted in their final group game which will decide the automatic qualifier for the knockouts from the group.
FC Goa Head Coach Gouramangi Singh made seven changes to the starting lineup with Udanta Singh, Odei Onaindia, Carlos Martinez and Rowllin Borges retaining their place for the must win encounter for a place in the quarterfinals.
Downtown Heroes Head Coach Hilal Rasool Parray set his team in a 3-5-2 formation and made two changes to the side from their previous match. Zubair Ahad Akhoon came in for Raphael Bidias Rim and Goalkeeper Imran Arshid replaced Paramjit Baghel.
FC Goa as expected dominated proceedings in the middle. The Downtown Heroes resilience was broken in the 19th minute by Goa. Carlos Martinez set up Nemil beautifully with a back heel pass and the latter’s left footed shot found the bulged the net giving the lead for the FC Goa.
FC Goa continued to press hard and were looking dangerous from every attack. The second goal came in the 38th minute through Carlos Martinez. He headed in a perfect cross from Udanta Singh from the right wing to beat the Downtown Heroes keeper. The Goa could have finished the half with more goals to their name but for the brilliant saves by the seventeen year old Downtown Heroes keeper Imran Arshid. Noah, Udanta and Carlos Martinez were denied by the keeper to keep the scoreline 2-0 at the break.
FC Goa started the second half from where they had left in the first half. Noah Sadaoui was continuously troubling the Downtown Heroes defence with his runs down the left flank. Carlos Martinez missed a couple of chances to increase Goa’s lead and also add to his personal tally.
Devendra Murgaokar’s goal late into injury time finished off the game and secured three points for the FC Goa. Noah’s attempted chip past Downtown Heroes keeper went wayward but the keeper spilled the ball which was tapped into the goal by Devendra.
Source: Army Authorities