A hat-trick by Dudu Omagbemi helped Sporting Clube de Goa score an emphatic 4-1 victory over Fransa in the eighth round of the ninth National Football League in Margao on Sunday.
Sporting, who played their first match after their team met with an accident at Kolkata over a fortnight ago, scored through Dudu (24th minute, 53nd, 58th) and Nichola Rodrigues (89th).
Fransa, who beat strong contenders Mohun Bagan and Dempo in their earlier matches, however played a subdued game today and scored their lone goal in the 78th minutes through Saikhom Singh.
Fransa who suffered their third defeat remained on 13 points from eight matches, while Sporting moved to seventh place with seven points from four matches, displacing Salgaocar who have an inferior goal difference.
Dudu, who troubled the rival defence along with Edeh Chidi, gave Sporting the lead in the 24th minute when he drove home a powerful right footer off a deflection from defender A S Firoze after Nicholas Rodrigues had taken a shot at the goal.
The goal inspired Sporting as they controlled the midfield and made inroads at regular interval and increased the lead in the 53rd minute through a penalty.
Defender Peter Costa unintentionally bought down Omagbemi inside the box while going for a tackle and referee Walter Pereira awarded the penalty and Dudu himself took the spot kick converted beating keeper Kalyan to his left.
Dudu then scored his hat-trick when he volleyed home a left footer off a long pass from the left by Chidi.
Saikhom Singh pulled one back in the 78th minute after defender Wilton Gomes clearance from Jules's shot came to him, Fransa showed urgency in their attack and came close to scoring twice but keeper Luis Barreto denied Benjamin Ansah and Joseph Ogor from scoring.
With four minutes to go for the final whistle Nicholas Rodrigues rounded off the tally with a firm right footer from the top of the box after Dudu did the spade work.
Referee Walter Pereira showed yellow cards to Fransa's Benjamin Ansah and Sporting's Luis Barreto.
