Dempo, Sporting in race for Goa Pro League title

10 Jan, 2009


The Kingfisher Goa Professional League title race is now officially reduced to a two-team affair with Dempo Sports Club and Sporting Clube de Goa leaving the others behind.

Dempo’s solitary goal win over Salgaocar Sports Club enabled them move on top of the league table for the first time since August with 26 points, but it was largely due to Sporting Clube de Goa’s unexpected 2-4 drubbing at the hands of Churchill Brothers Sports Club at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco that the former champions were thrown a lifeline.

With just two matches left, the title race now boils down to the crucial Dempo-Sporting Clube clash on December 12 at the Duler stadium in Mapusa. A win for either team will put them into an advantageous position as their rivals for the last league games are not expected to cause much trouble.

Despite their fluent 4-2 win over Sporting, Churchill Brothers are out of the title race. Well, almost.

The defending champions have 20 points in their kitty, but with just two matches left to be played, they will need several results to go their way. At first, they will need Sporting Clube to hold Dempo on Saturday, and then hope both Sporting and Dempo lose their last round matches while they win two matches on the trot.

Churchill Brothers were thankful to Nigerian striker Felix Chimaokwu for the Sporting drubbing. The Nigerian striker helped himself to a rare hat-trick inside 11 minutes as Churchill handed Sporting Clube their first defeat in the competition.

Felix scored between the 34th and 45th minute while Lenny Rodrigues scored the other goal. For Sporting, Bibiano Fernandes struck from the spot to bring Sporting back in the game, and even though Nathaniel Amos also added his name to the scoresheet, their efforts were too little too late.

Source: the-aiff.com

Added by: Anselm Pio Noronha