Sporting Goa beat United SC 1-0 to retain second spot

Midfielder Rojen Singam Singh netted the winner in the fourth minute as Sporting Clube de Goa overcame United SC 1-0 in the I-League at the Duler ground in Mapusa on Saturday afternoon.

Sporting Goa took a surprise lead in the fourth minute, after Arturo Navarro García released Boima Jerry Karpah on the left wing and he brilliantly cut past his marker and served the ball on a platter for Rojen to pounce and send the crowd into raptures. The remainder of the first half was restricted to the midfield, without any real goal mouth action. United SC were kept in check by the splendid marshalling in defence of Sporting Goa’s Gonzalo Hinojal Neila.

Changing over, the Flaming Oranje started to look bright again with the introduction of Beeven D’Mello who created havoc on the left wing after coming on for Rojen. His delicate interchanging of passes nearly opened-up the opposition on a few occasions. In the closing stages, Sporting Goa’s Boima Karpeh saw his shot well kept out by the United SC custodian Abhijit Das and moment’s later Ogba Kalu Nnanna was also denied with an instinctive save.

At the other end, United SC attempted long-range shots which never really troubled young Ravi Kumar in the Sporting Goa goal.

Sporting Goa’s Spanish defender Gonzalo Neila was adjudged the man of the match.

Sporting Clube de Goa finished the first half of the league in a respectable second position with 27 points from fourteen matches and a game in hand over I-League leaders Bengaluru FC who have 30 points. United SC meanwhile stay on 18 points.