Salgaocar held on to its first half strike by Gilbert Olivera to beat Shillong Lajong 1-0 and came out of the relegation spot in the Hero I-League here today. The victory pushed Salgaocar to sixth position in the points table.
The solitary goal of the match by Olivera, whose pile-driver from just inside the box gave goalkeeper Vishal Keith absolutely no chance, earned him the man of the match award.
Salgaocar, which is unbeaten in the last three matches, took its points tally to 12 points, the same as Mumbai FC, but is behind the Mumbai team due to the head-to-head clashes between the sides.
Shillong Lajong, which suffered its second successive loss, is behind Salgaocar with 11 points from 11 matches.
Both the teams played attacking football throughout the match.
Although the visitor enjoyed a slight edge, especially in the second half, and also managed to move the ball deep down into the Salgaocar half, it lacked ideas once it reached near the box and its moves fizzled out with opposition defender Eder Monteiro playing a stellar role in defence.
Lajong had the first chance to take the lead in the early part of the match but Penn Orje directed his shot wide off the target.
Salgaocar though, was more clinical, and took the leadm after a couple of close chances, in the 31st minute.
A Brian Mascarnehas corner was poorly defended by Konsham and the clearance was thumped in by Olivera, to earn his team a 1-0 lead at half time.
Shillong Lajong coach made second change soon after the break, bringing in Boithang Haokip in place of Konsham Chinglensana Singh to give more thrust in the attack. But Salgaocar defence did well to counter its moves. The visitor had a couple of close chances but it failed to direct the ball on target.
Salgaocar came with a few counter moves and had a good chance to increase its lead later on in the match but Brian Mascarnehas failed to direct his shot on target from a well placed pass inside the box from Cavin.
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