Salgaocar FC registered a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Viva Chennai FC to qualify for the semi-finals of the 1st AWES Cup, organised by Association for the Wellbeing of Elder Sportspersons and Dempo Sports Club Juniors, at Duler Football Stadium, Mapusa, on Sunday.

Salgaocar needed only a draw to qualify for the knock-out stage of the competition but the Goa Pro League champions did even better, completing a fluent victory. Agnelo Colaco scored a brace of goals while Gilbert Oliveira was also among the goals for the winners.

Salgaocar led 2-0 at the breather.

Much was expected from Viva Chennai FC but they disappointed. After losing 1-2 against FC Goa, Chennai needed to win by a clear two-goal margin against Salgaocar but failed to measure up to the challenge.

Romaric Nguefang and Netto Benny combined well upfront for the visitors but lacked finishing. That gave Salgaocar enough space to work out their moves and the local league champions didn’t spare anyone.

It did not take long for Salgaocar to surge ahead. It happened as early as the eighth minute when Gilbert got hold of a square pass from Umesh Harijan and latched a right footer from outside the penalty box which beat the rival goalkeeper all ends up.

Chennai regrouped and attacked. After much probing, Anoop V.C sent a pass to well positioned Netto whose fierce drive was brilliantly parried away for a corner by Salgaocar goalkeeper Abhijit Das.

Salgaocar then scored their insurance goal through Agnelo Colaco, whose 30-yarder drew applause from the Sunday gathering and left the rival goalkeeper rooted to the ground.

In the second session, Viva Chennai pinned Salgaocar in their own den for the initial period and created several moves, none of which paid dividends.

But while Chennai did all the attacking, it were Salgaoacar who ended up scoring another goal, their third of the match. It was Agnelo again who did the damage as he caught the rival keeper napping with a curling left footer.

Salgaocar now await the winners of the concluding league clash between Sporting Clube de Goa and Gokulam FC in the second semi-final on Friday.

(AWES Cup)