New Delhi: Salgaocar Sports Club gave an all-round quality performance to secure a spot in the quarterfinals of Osian's Durand Cup football tournament with a convincing 4-1 victory over Viva Kerala at the Ambedkar Stadium here today.

The Goans were clearly the superior outfit as they found the net through Shylo Malswamtlunga (15th and 90th minutes), Nigerian Felix Chimaokwu (38th) and Nicholas Rodrigues (40th ) to book a spot in the last eight.

Saikhom Santa Singh (73rd) was the lone scorer for Viva Kerala. Salgaocar have recently made it back to the top division of the national league and today's performance would be a morale booster for the 1998-99 NFL champions, who won the Durand Cup in 1999 and 2003.

Felix, especially, was a constant threat to the Viva Kerala defence and the back line had to work overtime to keep him at bay. The team from the southern state was limited to sporadic attempts on goal as Salgaocar had the bulk of the possession due to their dominating midfield. Even the rare attacks failed to achieve much as their strike force lacked bite.

Viva started brightly enough and a through ball from Othallo Tabia found its way to Ghanain Abbey Wisdom, who missed the target with only keeper Marcus Basumatari to beat.

The close shave spurred Salgaocar into action and they were soon ahead with a splendid team effort. Skipper Rocus Lamare freed Anil Kumar on the left wing and a cut back to centre found Jerose Oliviera, who passed to Malswamtlunga on the right edge of the box. He had time to chest the ball down before firing a volley which flew past Purushothaman TG in the Viva goal.

Source : PTI