Viva Kerala produced a dominant performance as they outclassed bottom-placed Goan club Salgaocar 3-1 in the fifth round of the ONGC I-League football tie at the Corporation stadium in Kozhikode on Saturday.
Viva, who led 1-0 at the half-time, scored through Wisdom Abbey (40th minute), Baba Tunde (54th) and C S Saleel (73rd). Ambani Boniface scored the lone goal for the visitors three minutes into the second half.
The home side opened the scoring in the first half through Abbey's header after the striker converted a pass from Birua Bimal. However, Kenya's Ambani levelled the scores after the break, when he brilliantly guided a Felix Chimaakwu's pass into the net.
From then on it was Viva who not only held the territorial advantage but also maintained the pressure to go up 2-1 when Tunde hammered the ball into the net as Salgaocar's Biju Kumar tried his best to block the powerful hit.
While the Goan team tried to restore parity once again, Viva's Saleel, who came in as a substitute, shocked them by neatly collecting a rebound off Salgaocar's custodian Markos Basumatari to take the home team to 3-1.
Salgaocar, who lacked the requisite firepower upfront to break the rival defence on several occasions, continue to remain at the bottom of the table in the 10-team League with two points, while Viva moved up to fourth spot with eight points behind current leaders Dempo (13), JCT (11) and Churchill Brothers (9).
