Vasco SC stuns FC Kochin

KOCHI, MARCH 22. After three consecutive goalless draws, Vasco Sports Club finally took off the `Zero Boys' tag here on Thursday evening. The Goan side pulled off a stunning 1-0 victory over favourite FC Kochin in the National Football League 15th round at the Nehru Stadium.

The victory was Vasco's fifth and the loss, Kochin's second straight one.

Vasco's Uzbek striker Awazbek Khoshimov struck the match-winner in the 36th minute and then pumped up his fists in celebration. There was reason to rejoice, for prior to this match, Vasco had scored just two goals in its last nine games, the worst shooting record among the 12 teams during the last one and half months. The goal came off a throw-in from Vasco's Gregory Clark. The ball came to Khoshimov, who trapped it on the bounce, turned around and shot neatly. Goalie Shibu Shanmugham was in position but he was slow to react to the curling longranger.

The Vasco players shed their reputation for being stubborn defenders and were on the attack mode for a major part of the match. Midfielders Daniel Colaco and Gregory Clark did a lot of running and kept up a stream of passes to Khoshimov and Peter Rodriques.

FC Kochin clearly missed its star, goalkeeper-cum- forward Sunday Seah, who was red-carded in the last match against ITI, Bangalore. Defender Patrick Nuku was also out with a thigh injury. And Vasco was forced to replace its Brazilian star Ronaldo de Silva who suffered a cut on his face early in the match.

Vasco has 23 points now, while FC Kochin stays on 29.

- Our Sports Reporter

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