Sporting Clube finish fourth

Vasco: Sporting Clube de Goa finished the I-League with a 3-0 demolition of Salgaocar FC in the Goan derby at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco on Saturday.
Prathesh Shirodkar gave Sporting Clube the lead in the sixth minute itself and when Sumeet Passi made it 2-0 before the half an hour mark, it was curtains for Salgaocar, the home team. Victorino Fernandes, who had replaced Passi just two minutes earlier, completed the rout in the 83rd minute.
Sporting Clube’s comfortable victory took them to 22 points and ensured that they finished this edition of the I-League in fourth place. To the neutrals, it would seem like a good enough return for Sporting Clube but for a team which had ambitions to win the title, it would be painful to finish outside the top three.
Sporting Clube started with almost the same team that demolished Shillong Lajong 5-2 at home in the previous game with Joseph Clemente, who replaced the suspended Mehrajuddin Wadoo, being the only change. Salgaocar coach Santosh Kashyap, on the other hand, made five changes as he welcomed Gurjinder Kumar, Augustine Fernandes, Rocus Lamare, Darryl Duffy and T Haokip into the starting lineup.
But more than those who stepped in, it was the absence of the injured Brazilian defender Eder Monteiro which hurt Salgaocar the most. The former champions lacked a leader at the heart of defence and found themselves down when the match was just six minutes old. A corner was palmed away by goalkeeper Karanjit Singh but the ball went straight to Prathesh who finished with a cracker-of-a-shot that brooked no answer from goalkeeper Karanjit Singh as the ball kissed the upright and ricocheted into the goal..
Striker Sumeet Passi, who started his third consecutive game this season, came close to scoring in the 20th minute when his header of an inch-perfect cross from Rowlin Borges sailed just wide of the mark.
Passi, however, was not to be denied in the 30th minute as Borges saw an unmarked Nicholas Fernandes inside the box with a perfect diagonal ball which was played across the goal by the winger to Passi, who made no mistake.
Kashyap introduced Scottish midfielder Martin Scott to bring solidity to the midfield. It helped for a while but eventually it were Sporting Clube who made it 3-0 in the 83rd minute, despite Augustine previously clearing a ball on the line.
It was Victorino Fernandes who made it 3-0 just two minutes after taking the field. The striker found space inside the box and curled the ball home to finish leaving Salgaocar with plenty of work to do ahead of the Federation Cup which kicks off next week.