<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dempo SC \u2013 1 (Marcus Joseph 5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sreenidi Deccan FC \u2013 1 (Hadi Idrissou 71)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Goa Khabar: <\/strong>Dempo Sports Club ended their Star Cement Indian Football League 2025-26 campaign with fight and discipline. A 1-1 draw against Sreenidi Deccan FC at the PJN Stadium in Fatorda brought the Golden Eagles’ season to a close today evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marcus Joseph scored for Dempo SC. Habib Idrissou equalised for Sreenidi Deccan FC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Head Coach Samir Naik named an unchanged side for the final home fixture of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dempo took time to find their rhythm in the opening exchanges, Sreenidi’s defensive shape was compact and difficult to penetrate from the first whistle. Arnold Oliveira’s delivery into a crowded six-yard box picked out Marcus Joseph perfectly and the Golden Eagles’ top scorer did what he has done all season, finishing with composure to give Dempo the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dempo controlled the tempo, pressed around the Sreenidi penalty area and kept their defensive shape tight at the other end. The closest Sreenidi came in the first half was a fierce David Casta\u00f1eda strike from a tight angle one that looked destined for the corner of the net until Ashish Sibi flung himself across his line to turn it away. Sibi was called into action again before the break, dealing calmly with a dangerous corner before punching away a threatening cross that had the Fatorda crowd holding its breath. Dempo went into the interval with their lead intact and their belief growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second half brought more of the same. Sreenidi pressed and Sibi answered every question they asked. Mohammed Aqib found himself with a chance inside the box early in the second period, a swarm of players around him making the situation dangerous. Sibi got down brilliantly to smother it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dempo held firm for long stretches of the second half, denying Sreenidi the space and time they needed to find a way through. But the equaliser came, a delivery into the box picked out Habib Idrissou, who converted to level the scores and breathe fresh urgency into the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vinay Harji came close to restoring the lead with an attempt that Sreenidi goalkeeper Kamaljit Singh got down to keep out at full stretch. The game had momentum and drama in equal measure and in the closing stages it was Sibi who kept Dempo in it once more, producing a crucial save from long range to deny Sreenidi what would have been a late winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even deep into added time the goalkeeper was not done. Pape Gassama’s dangerous free kick looked to have found its mark, Sibi got a vital touch to divert it away and preserve the draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final whistle. Dempo SC 1 Sreenidi Deccan FC 1. A season that began in difficulty, found its feet in adversity and ended with the kind of performance this squad deserves to be remembered for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reflecting on the season, Naik pointed to the late arrival of foreign players due as the defining challenge of the campaign, one that disrupted pre-season preparation and physical conditioning from the very start. “If the foreign players had come early, maybe we would have been challenging for the title,” he said. “There is a lot of potential in this squad.” Despite starting the season at the bottom of the table, Dempo lost just one game across their five Championship Round fixtures, a turnaround that Naik credited entirely to the character of his players. “The boys stuck together and showed what they are made of, from the coaching staff to every player on the pitch. They proved they are hard to beat.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the individual honours, Ashish Sibi has secured the Golden Glove, a fitting reward for a goalkeeper who stood tall for Dempo throughout the season. Marcus Joseph ends the campaign with nine goals and firmly in the race for the Golden Boot, though the award remains unconfirmed with Diamond Harbour’s Hugo Rodriguez, on eight goals, still to play tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dempo SC \u2013 1 (Marcus Joseph 5) Sreenidi Deccan FC \u2013 1 (Hadi Idrissou 71) Goa Khabar: Dempo Sports Club ended their Star Cement Indian Football League 2025-26 campaign with fight and discipline. A 1-1 draw against Sreenidi Deccan FC at the PJN Stadium in Fatorda brought the Golden Eagles’ season to a close today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25169,"featured_media":112248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[155,6],"tags":[3794,38],"class_list":["post-112247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-155","category-6","tag-featured","tag-goa"],"read":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112249,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112247\/revisions\/112249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/112248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}