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Salgaocar Football Club got their campaign back on track with a 4-0 demolition of hapless Air India in a 13th round I-League clash at Duler Stadium, in Mapusa, on Sunday (December 30).
Playing for the first time at the Duler Stadium which now has an artificial turf, Salgaocar adapted well to the different and slow surface. The hosts killed the match as a contest in the first half an hour itself when Milagres Gonsalves and defender Augustin Fernandes scored two goals each. All four goals came inside fourteen minutes between the 21st and 35th.
Salgaocar were clearly the better of the two teams and always looked like getting a positive result. Even though the former champions just had one foreign player on their rolls, they still proved too much for the visitors from Mumbai.
Quinton Jacobs, Francis Fernandes and Milagres had gone close for Salgaocar in the early stages of the match and it was not until the 21st minute that Salgaocar had opened their account. A nice one-two between Francis and Milagres saw the latter toe the ball home from inside the six yard box.
Once Salgaocar took the lead, there was no looking back for them. A minute later, defender Augustin made it 2-0 as a nice cross from Nicolau Colaco from the right saw Augustin head the ball home past a diving Air India goalkeeper Sukhwinder Singh.
Bad soon turned worse for Air India in the 26th minute as Sukhwinder, the Air India goalkeeper, did well to keep away a fierce shot from Brian Mascarenhas, but when Milagres turned home the rebound, they could only watch helplessly.
Salgaocar’s fourth goal came in the 35th minute as Augustin rose high to head a free-kick taken by Francis from just outside the box.
The second half saw Salgaocar continue to dominate but without much success as the strikers were wayward.