Goals from Hayden Fernandes and Saviour Gama helped ten men FC Goa beat Panjim Footballers 2-0 in a GFA Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium Mapusa on Wednesday.

FC Goa started the game on an attacking note but it was the Panjim Footballers who had the first shot of the game through Snedden Rodrigues but the laters strike went high from target in the 5th minute.

On the other side, FC Goa midfielder Leander D’Cunha tapped the ball back to Sezwin Fernandes who flicked it back to Leander but he found himself in an offside position which if not should have been the opening goal of the evening.

The initial quarter of the game saw both teams swap possession which restricted it to midfield play. The game finally opened up in the 20th minute as both teams created potent chances but failed to score.

First being the capital side as striker Snedden passed it to Akeraj Martin’s who covered some ground but found his strike go a whisker away from the target. For FC Goa, Brian Faria sent in a perfect cross to Savior Gama from the right flank but his light shot on target was kept at bay by the Panjim keeper Gurpreet Singh.

The deadlock was finally broken by FC Goa in the 29th minute as Hayden Fernandes opened the scoring with a powerful shot from outside the 18 yard which went straight into the nets no where in reach of the keeper Singh.

Having conceeded the opening goal, Panjim Footballers put in their level best to make things square as Akeraj passed the ball to Snedden but yet again found himself in an offside position thereby giving a one goal cushion to FC Goa at the break.

Post resumption, FC Goa doubled their lead over the Panjim side through Saviour Gama who tapped the ball in off Jason Barbosa’s cross in the 55th minute.

Another chance dropped by for the Gaurs as Sezwin Fernandes was in an easy spot to score but a timely save by the Panjim keeper saved further damage.

25 minutes into the second session witnessed ugly turns as the Goan keeper Iprotip Das was shown the red card for a rash tackle on Gautam Dias outside the box but substitute Joston Cardozo failed to keep his shot on target from the edge.

FC Goa being reduced to ten men were put under pressure by the Panjim Footballers but they failed to open their account while FC Goa had a couple of chances in the dying minutes but nothing changed the final score as FC Goa walked away with all the points.

Meanwhile in the GFA’s U-20 Taca Goa League match played at Artificial Turf, Fatorda, Dempo Sports Club and Churchill Brothers Sports Club played out a 1-1 draw.

Dempo SC managed to find the breakthrough in the 9th minute as Baggio Fernandes slotted the ball home to make it 1-0.

Struck by reverse the Red Machines rallied and managed to find the equaliser in the 25th minute through Arivin Silva spellbound strike.

(Goa Football Association)