Goa Khabar:Second from the bottom of the GPL table short on points, Guardian Angel SC arrived here with everything to prove and little to lose. And from the very first whistle they played like it. Ball possession settled predominantly in the Guardian Angel half, but this was a side with a plan, not a team frozen by their predicament.
The first real moment of danger arrived in the eighth minute and nearly announced Guardian Angel’s intent in the most emphatic fashion. Granville Fernandes fashioned an opening that had the crowd holding its breath a strike that shaved the post and stayed out. A few centimetres in either direction and this match might have had a very different complexion from the outset.
Goa Police found their footing quickly after that early Guardian scare. On eleven minutes, Kunal Salgaonkar drove into a pocket of space the goal suddenly, tantalizingly open but collided with Guardian keeper Franklin Gracias who had charged bravely from his line.
Within two minutes, it was Gracias who was making the headlines for the right reasons. A sharp effort from Gauresh Desai, a genuine strike that demanded a genuine answer was met with a composed, commanding save that set the tone for what Gracias would go on to produce across the match.
As the half wore on the contest ebbed and flowed with neither side able to fashion the decisive opening. Then, just before the break, Goa Police keeper Saiesh Kunkolkar produced a save of his own a brilliant stop that preserved the goalless draw and sent both sets of players into the tunnel level.
Three minutes into the second half, that moment arrived and it was worth the wait. With bodies crowding the Guardian Angel attack, Cyril Dias picked out a delivery with precision and purpose finding Suman Lepcha arriving at the edge of the penalty area. Lepcha’s header was crisp struck from just outside the penalty box with the conviction of a player who knew exactly where the ball was going before it left his head. One-nil. Guardian Angel lead.
What followed was a masterclass in defensive organisation under pressure. Goa Police, a side of experience and quality, threw everything they had at Guardian Angel in search of an equaliser. The tension inside the ground was palpable a team fighting for their table position holding onto a lead that felt both precious and precarious in equal measure. Guardian Angel did not buckle. They fought for every header, tracked every run and threw their bodies in front of every shot. When Fulganco Cardozo was booked for a foul on Vaibhav Naik, it was a sign of the desperation that the occasion had generated, players stretched to their limits in service of those three points. The final Goa Police SC 0-1 Guardian Angel SC.
