Qualifiers New Delhi Heroes stunned a listless Sporting Clube de Goa 1-0 to knock out the I-League leaders from the 30th Federation Cup at Vidyasagar Krirangan in Barasat on Saturday.
The all-important goal for the New Delhi side was scored by Romeo Sukhlein in the 30th minute.
Beaten 0-2 by JCT in the Group C opener on Thursday, Sporting Clube de Goa dished out their most pathetic performance of the tournament.
The Goans felt the absence of their I-League top scorer Junior Elijah and their two other foreign recruits Nathaniel Amos and Luciano Sobrosa lacked in energy and spirit.
Amos got a plenty of chances in both halves but he did everything except scoring. His headers were off target, while his shots lacked power.
However, credit should not be taken away from the Chima Okorie's New Delhi boys who cashed in on the set piece they had in the first 45 minutes.
More than his coloured hair, Stanley Cyprian stood out in New Delhi Heroes forward line-up as he set it up brilliantly for Romeo Sukhlein to score the winner in the 30th minute.
Itaue de Oliveira initiated the move from the right wing which was brilliantly taken by Stanley.
Displaying his cool temperament, Stanley passed the ball on to a surging Itaue who deceived the Sporting Clube goalkeeper Rajat Guha and crossed it to a nicely-positioned Romeo who had a deft touch at the ball into the net to perish the Goan side's hopes of making it to the semifinals of the 16-team tournament.
New Delhi Heroes almost scored another goal in the 84th minute, but Itaue who himself orchestrated the fine move missed out on a sitter.
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