Goa score in Jr. National football

A 39th minute goal by Bernardo Pires helped Goa beat Delhi in a thrilling Group 4 match in the Junior National football championship in Jaipur on Monday.

In other matches of the day, Karnataka drubbed Pondicherry 3-0 in Group 4 while in a Group 1 match at the Choughan stadium, Kerala beat Haryana 3-1, after leading 1-0 at the breather.

In the last match of the day, Nagaland overcame Meghalaya 2-1.

The Goa-Delhi match was a keenly-fought affair. Goa had won their first match, beating Karnataka 2-0, while Delhi had drawn their first encounter against Chandigarh. Goa went into the match eager to post a win to facilitate their entry into the quarter-finals while Delhi were desperate to notch up a win to remain in the hunt.

Ireno Fernandes and Pires had a good match and were engaged in most of the moves of their team which dominated the proceedings right from the start with short and controlled passes.

Fernandes, who had scored a brace in the first match, was unluky on a few occasions when his powerful kicks missed the mark.

Goa got a corner just before the breather and they did well in not wasting it. Pires got a beautiful pass from behind when he was in front of the box. He paused to take control of the ball and observing that the goalkeeper was coming out, lobbed the ball into the goal with a calculated right footer.