Durand Cup: Garhwal Heroes shock Sporting; Salgaocar beat Air India

NEW DELHI - Delhi club Garhwal Heroes shocked Sporting Clube de Goa 2-1 while Salgaocar beat Air India 3-1 in the quarter-final league of Durand Cup football tournament here Thursday.

Garhwal made the best of the opportunities that came their way at the Ambedkar Stadium here and they can now hope for a semi-final berth in the third-oldest tournament of the world.

Garhwal were almost out of the tournament after they lost their qualifiers, but made it to the quarter-final round in the last minute after I-League champions Dempo decided to pull out. Garhwal defeated Army Ordnance Corps (AOC), Secunderabad in the play-off and qualified for the quarter-final league as Dempos replacement.

Against Sporting, the nimble-footed Garhwal players put up a spirited performance and the Goan team ran out of pace.

Garhwal strikers Ashish Pandey and Kamal Rawat broke through the Sporting defence and gave the Delhi club lead in the eighth minute after Pandey scored from a perfect cross. Garhwal kept the pressure on Sporting right throughout the first-half.

Sporting’s Australian striker Joshua Maguire and Mackroy Peixoto failed to make any impact on Garhwal’s defence and hardly got any support from the midfielders.

With just six minutes left for the final whistle, Garhwal doubled the lead from a counter-attack after captain Gangamlung Kamei trapped Rawat’s cross inside the box and chipped it over goalkeeper Felix D’Souza.

Sporting pulled one back in the last minute with Peixoto scoring from a goalmouth meele.

In another match, Goan club Salgaocar earned a hard fought 3-1 win over Mumbai outfit Air India. Neither of the two teams showed any intention to score in the lacklustre first half that ended goalless.

After the breather, Salgaocar came out with a better plan as veteran Ghanaian striker Yusif Yakubu and Brazilian Luciano Sobrosa made regular forays in Air India’s defence. In the 52nd minute, substitute Anthony Barbosa broke the deadlock with a header but in the attempt suffered a concussion and had to be carried out of the ground.

Salgaocars Japanese import Ryuji Sceoka added the second goal in the 61st minute after an excellent cross from Yakubu, who scored the third in the 90th minute. Vijith Shetty reduced the margin for Air India in the 91st minute.