Ivory Coast midfielder Douhou Peirre scored a brace to guide Salgaocar FC to a fluent 4-1 win against Indian Navy and start their campaign on a winning note in the Pool "A" quarter-final league of the 127th Durand Cup, played at Raia Panchyat ground, here today.
Salgaocar, who had better share of exchanges and scoring chances, netted through Peirre(16th, 47th), Aslon Oliveira(18th) and Gilbert Oliveira(90+2).
Indian Navy pulled one back through Raman Lal in the 70th minute but could not cut much ice all along.
Both the teams played an attacking game from the very start as they pressed for an early goal. Salgaocar, who did most of the probing in the first half, scored two quick goals in a span of two minutes that demoralised the opponent spirit.
Peirre, who played just behind the opponent strikers, orchestrated most of the moves in the first-half to put his team ahead in the 16th minute when he found the net via a pass from Bikash Jairu.
Two minutes latter, Peirre laid a pass inside the box to Aslon Oliveira who shot home from close to have Salgaocar leading 2-0 at half time.
The visitors, who were jolted by the two quick goals, tried to retailate with a couple of good moves but V Lalchhuanmawia's stiff grounder was put out by rival keeper Karanjit Singh.
G Priyo Sharma also came close to scoring but his header missed the target narrowly.
Salgaocar swelled the lead soon after resumption when Peirre found the net with a stiff grounder off Gurjinder Kumar's pass in the 47th minute.
Indian Navy's Raman Lal uncorked a right footer that hit a rival defender before finding the net in the 70th minute.
Gilbert Oliveira then rounded off the tally in injury time to have Salgaocar collect full points.
