Claude Gnakpa's four goals fuel Salgaocar thrashing of Churchill

Salgaocar Football Club gave the undefeated Churchill Brothers Sports Club a bitter taste of defeat as they floored them by a 4-1 margin in the Super League of the Airtel Goa Pro League played at Duler Stadium, here on Saturday. Frenchman Claude Gnakpa was in scintillating form as he netted a fine hat-trick in just 37 minutes and added another to his tally in the second half. 

The last two months have been a dark period for Mariano Dias’s men and the Pro League campaign was the only silver lining, but even that seems to be fading away as the Reds slipped to their first defeat. With the victory and points in the bag, Salgaocar climbed to third in the standings with 18 points while Churchill dropped to second with 23 points.

Coming into this battle, Salgaocar who are atop the I-league table, had the mental edge over Churchill Brothers who are witnessing a horrible run of games. And the green brigade took immediate advantage of it as they struck with their first attempt at goal in the sixth minute itself. But they owed a great deal of gratitude to Churchill defender Naveen Sudhakaran who was guilty of schoolboy-like defending as he inexplicably let goalkeeper Lalit Thapa collect a long ball out of defence instead of diverting it to safety. A lurking Gnakpa snuck in and rounded the Reds keeper to roll the ball home.

The goal stunned Churchill and they were visibly shaken as they could not get any sort of rhythm going in their play and Salgaocar showed no mercy as they pressed forward to extend their lead. Centre back Naveen and goalkeeper Lalit Thapa did not help Churchill’s cause as they committed a horrendous error to gift the Frenchman an easy opportunity, which he duly accepted to make it 2-0. Claude nearly extended his side’s lead after he collected a pass from medio Aslon Oliveira but his powerful low drive went whiskers wide of the post.

The Red Machines finally started to settle down after the half hour mark and even managed a few spells of decent ball possession but they were unable to create a single goal scoring opportunity. Claude tormented the Churchill backline throughout the first half and completed his hat-trick in the 37th minute after he bulldozed his way past Naveen and smashed the ball into the bottom corner as Salgaocar took a comfortable 3-0 lead before going into the dressing rooms. 

Churchill coach had lots to think about as his side was staring at their first defeat in the Pro League campaign. But nothing changed for Churchill as the second half progressed; they had possession but they could not get the goals.

The victory was beyond doubt but Claude was hungry for more and showed his opportunistic strength as he put the icing on the cake when he netted his fourth from close range after Milagres Gonsalves headed the ball in his path from a Brian Mascarenhas cross.

Churchill scored a consolation goal in added-on time when Jeevan Nalge came in with a clumsy tackle on Jaison Vales and substitute Thangjam Singh buried it emphatically to salvage some pride for his side.

Gnakpa collected the Man of the Match as well as the Goal of the match awards. Tholgen Suttar was the lucky winner of the Fan of the Match award and collected the match ball signed by Gnakpa.