FC Goa storm into Durand semis

Kalyani, Sep 24: FC Goa marched into the Durand Cup semi-finals with a dominating 5-1 win over Delhi FC at the Kalyani stadium, here on Friday.
Goals from Devendra Murgaokar, Muhammed Nemil and Brandon Fernandez in the first half along with Leander D’Cunha and Romario Jesuraj adding to the tally in the second half.
Delhi FC got one back courtesy Nikhil Mali. Delhi created quite a few opportunities in the first quarter but Anwar Ali and Willis Deon Plaza could not convert.
In the 15th minute, Devendra Murgaokar scored the first goal and his fourth of the tournament to put the Gaurs ahead.
Muhammed Nemil scored another three minutes later. Delhi FC had chances in the remaining part of the first half but it was good work from Goa’s defence that kept them at bay.
Brandon then lobbed a curler from the left flank over Delhi keeper Lovepreet in added time, to give Goa a big cushion of 3 goals at half time.
Delhi FC looked like they came with a plan in the second half and showed some resilience initially but luck was not smiling at them on the day. They did pull one back in the 82nd minutes.
Mali scored a smart goal after an even smarter Willis Plaza dummy inside the Goa box, spoiling the clean-sheet of Dheeraj under the Gaur’s bar.
It took Goa just a couple of minutes to regain the three goal cushion as Leander D’Cunha scored from an overhead kick which did not quite catch his foot where he would have liked it to.
Jesuraj scored the fifth and final goal in injury time to seal the deal for FC Goa.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Bengaluru, will clash against Army Green.
Bengaluru FC Coach Naushad Moosa said that his side were focused on tackling each game at a time. The Blues, who booked their spot in the knockouts by virtue of topping Group C, face Army Green, who finished second in Group B.
“The final group game against the Indian Navy was a good learning experience for the boys. We allowed the opposition to bring the game to us in the first half, and that gave them a two-goal lead and I told my team during the break that they had to pull together as a unit and work hard. They responded well to turn things around in the second period,” Moosa said. (UNI)