Goa rout Bengal to enter Under 21 Nat'l Football final

Guwahati, May 25 (UNI) Goa scored two late goals to beat Bengal 2-0 in the second semi-final and book a title round clash against Punjab in the Under 21 National Football championship here today.

The defeat dashed Bengal's hopes of winning the championship for the third time in a row.

Cavin Lobo scored the first goal for Goa in the 77th minute, while Milagres Gonsalves netted the second in the injury time.

The first half saw both the teams playing defensive rather than taking shots at the goal. Goa's Joy Ferrao missed an early chance to score in the sixth minute when his header kissed the woodwork.

Bengal also failed to convert a few chances into goals, with the match evenly poised at half time.

Goa returned from the lemon break with greater power and went for the offensive in the second half. Though it lost a few chances of hitting the opposition net, Cavin Lobo finally scored the first goal of the match for Goa in the 77th minute.

After receiving a measured pass from a team mate, Lobo fired towards the goal only to hit a Bengal defender's leg before landing inside the net.

Bengal tried hard to get back into the match and a couple of minutes later substitute Md Nadim slotted the ball home only to be ruled offside. Nadim was also shown yellow card for challenging the referee's decision.

The second goal for Goa came in the second minute of injury time with Mialgres Gonsalves chipping in the ball into opposition goal to confirm a final berth for his team.

Goa will now take on last year's runners-up Punjab in the final on Sunday. Punjab had beaten Asom 2-1 in the first semi-final yesterday.

UNI