Corona League side Tuff Dogs ran riot against a Vasco side who are rebuilding from their glory days of the 1990’s, romping to a 4-0 victory in the preliminary round of the FA Cup at Goose Gosling Field yesterday afternoon.

Two unanswered goals in each half saw the Dogs advance into the next round, much to the delight of player/coach Jensen Rogers.

“We knew we were coming up against a young team, but we also knew they were inexperienced. I am happy with the guys’ focus and concentration today. We used our knowledge and experience to overcome them even when we went a man down. Hopefully, we will continue in this tournament — we are optimistic”.

Tuff Dogs started on the front foot and took a deserved lead when a diagonal cross was knocked into the centre finding an unmarked Miguel Cabra, who kept his cool to find the bottom right corner.

Mid-way through the half, Vasco goalkeeper Kamran Harvey kept his team in the game making back-to-back, point-blank saves from Joao Maderios after he outstripped his marker to get off two shots.

Goalscorer Cabral would turn villain when he head-butted Khari Place in retaliation after being fouled and was shown a straight red card.

Tuff Dogs doubled their lead from the resulting free kick on the stroke of half time, when defender Kvinjae Thompson put the cross into his own net under pressure from Gary Adams.

Player-coach Leo Burgess nearly pulled one back for Vasco shortly after the restart when he drove a free kick that was dipping under the crossbar only for an alert Tuff Dogs goalkeeper Andrew Lee to push over the top at the last second.

Despite the one-man disadvantage, Tuff Dogs continued to dominate possession and captain Thomas Brown would make it 3-0 with the goal of the game.

Picking up the ball in his own half, Brown caught the Vasco stopper in no man’s land before executing a perfect chip which dipped under the crossbar into the roof off the net from some 50 yards out.

Substitute Anwar Telford would close out the scoring after being given space to cut in from the right flank to squeeze his shot in at the near post beyond the reach of Harvey.

SCORERS

Tuff Dogs 4: M Cabral 8, K Thompson 45 (og), T Brown 62, A Telford 73

Vasco 0

TEAMS

Tuff Dogs (4-2-3-1): A Lee 7 — K Pacheco 6, D Signor 6, E Signor 6, G Adams 6 (sub: M Parsons 58 5) —-T Brown 7, N DaSilva 6 (sub: L Simmons 72) — J Maderios 7 (sub: N Figureudo 58 5), C Tully 6 (sub: J Rogers 72 5), B Correira 6 (sub: A Telford 43 6) — M Cabral 6. Substitutes not used: J Gibbons. Booked: Brown. Sent off: Cabral.

Vasco (4-2-3-1: K Harvey 7— K Thompson 6 (S Cannonier 65 5), K Place 5, C Viera 5, M Rajeh 5 — D Symonds 5, L Burgess 7 — J Watts 5 (sub: K Burgess 46 5), E Viera 5, K Arruda 5 — M Amaral 5 (sub: J Smith 54 5). Substitutes not used: J Ming. Booked: Burgess.

Referee: Sar Smith