I-League: Sporting Clube beat Rangdajied

Rangdajied United FC went down 2-1 to Sporting Clube de Goa in an Airtel I-League football match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here Wednesday.

Sporting scored once in each half through Rowllin Borges and Cajetan Fernandes, and Ranti Martins pulled one back for Rangdajied in the 90th minute.

Rangdajied had won four of their last five contests prior to this game, including three at home, so the fans would have been expecting another solid performance from the Blues. However, they were treated to a rather listless display as the home team lacked bite until the dying minutes of the game.

The match was a fairly even affair for the first 20 minutes before Sporting took the lead in the 27th minute. Kalu Ogba fed the ball forward looking for the intimidating presence of Boima Karpeh, but Rangdajied goalkeeper Surjay Kumar Pariyar came to the edge of the box to clear the ball away.

His effort went straight to Borges, however, who took a long range shot over the head of the out of place Pariyar to make it 1-0.

The hosts' only half chance in the first session came in the sixth minute when a chip by Steven Dias forced Sporting's keeper Melroy Fernandes to put the ball out for a corner.

Martins had a couple of shots blocked by the goalkeeper in first few minutes of the second session, including a sitter in the 50th when he had just Melroy to beat.

A Munmun Lugun handball just outside the Rangdajied box proved fatal as Cajetan made it 2-0 to the visitors just before 60 minutes. The Sporting player did not put a lot of power into the shot, instead relying on perfect placement. The ball hit the upright and skidded in across the goal line, with Pariyar unable to do much about it.

Rangdajied began to lift their game, putting the Goan team under pressure. The Oranje looked tired in the field and Martins, steaming into the box, was able to slide the ball in past Melroy to pull one back for the hosts in the 90th minute.

Kim Song Yong then skewed a header wide soon after, but Sporting Clube's tactics of slowing the game down worked as they were able to hold out for the win a few minutes of stoppage time later.