I-LEAGUE - The Home of India's Premier Football League
 
 

Jawaharlal Nehru - Fatorda Stadium
at Margao, Goa || Kickoff: 15.30 IST

Referee
Ali Saleem (Maldives)

Assistent Referees
Komaleeswaran Shankar (Tamil Nadu), Shai Kurian (Kerala)

Fourth Officials
Pratap Singh (Services)

 
 
3 : 2

 

GOALS
0-1 Edmilson Marques Pardal (26')
1-1 Odafe Onyeka Okolie (32')
2-1 Odafe Onyeka Okolie (41' p)
3-1 Odafe Onyeka Okolie (44')
3-2 Mehtab Hussain (87')

YELLOW CARDS
40' Debabrata Roy (E. Bengal)

RED CARDS
none

MAN OF THE MATCH
Odafe Onyeka Okolie (Churchill Brothers)

   
CHURCHILL BROTHERS SC EAST BENGAL CLUB

30-Lalit Thapa [GK]
8-Thokchom Naoba Singh
6-N Govind Singh
19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh
17-Robert Lalthalma
12-Reisangmei Vasum (80' #15)
21-Ogba Kalou (68' #18)
13-Mashangva Genius Zenith
11-Khemtang Paite
10-Odafe Onyeka Okolie [C]
9-Mboyo Iyomi

Formation: 4-4-2

Substitutes:
29-Arindam Bhattcharya
2-Villroy D'Cruz
4-Rowilson Rodrigues
7-Martin Louis Joseph Daniel
15-D Raju (80' #12)
18-Saran T. Singh (68' #21)
38-Jaison Valles

24-Subrata Pal
19-Syed Rahim Nabi
3-Majekodumni Bolaji
26-Mehraj din Wadoo
35-Aibor Khongjee
23-Mehtab Hussain
7-Jayanta Sen
9-Alvito D'Cunha [C]
29-Soumik Dey (56' #40)
15-McDonald Mukansi (30' #5)
30-Edmilson M. Pardal (46' #10)

Formation: 4-4-2

Substitutes:
21-Abhra Mondal
5-Debabrata Roy (30' #15)
10-Dipendu Biswas l (46' #30)
32-Madhab Das
34-Snehashish Chakraborty
22-Vimal Pariyar
40-Vanlal Rova (56' #29)

 

  Churchill Brothers SC returned to winning ways with a 3-2 victory against East Bengal Club in their Round 5 match of the inaugural I-League at the Nehru Stadium, Margao. Churchill Brothers moved up into third position past their Calcutta rivals. Churchill Brothers with three wins out of five matches are on nine points, while East Bengal remain on seven points from as many matches.
The star of the day was once more Churchill Brothers captain Odafe Onyeka Okolie, who scored a hattrick in only 13 minutes, to take apart the red-and-gold defence. But besides Odafe one also has to question the strategy of East Bengal coach Subrata Bhattacharjee, who substituted striker McDonald Mukansi, a South African World Cupper, with a defensive Debabrata Roy; while taking of the I-League's top scorer Edmilson at halftime to take the sting out of their attack.
The match started-off at a slow paced with both teams looking for the early opening. But things changed in the 26th minute when East Bengal captain Alvito D'Cunha found Edmilson free on the right, who beat his marker and placed the ball into the net past rookie keeper Lalit Thapa. But Churchill Brothers didn't need too long to get back into the match. After a corner for East Bengal Odafe broke free on the right sprinting past Aibor Khongjee and sending a powerful shot to the far side of the goal for the equaliser in the 31st minute. And then came a crucial moment of the match which tilted the match in Churchill Brothers favour. Churchill's young keeper Lalit Thapa brought down Edmilson in the area and referee Ali Saleem pointed to the spot. But Edmilson, who himself took the spot kick, chipped the ball over the crossbar. And Churchill pushed them heavily for this. In the 41th minute Debabrata Roy brought down Churchill's new African recruit Ogba Kalu Nnanna with the referee pointing for the second time on the day to the penalty spot. But Odafe didn't miss and placed the ball to the right of the outstreched hands of East Bengal keeper Subrata Pal. And Odafe completed his hattrick in the 44th minute when he scored off a pass from Khemtang Paite. There wasn't too much of action in the second session with East Bengal controlling most of the match, but with not really creating any worthwhile chances. Substitute Dipendu Biswas and Syed Rahim Nabi, who had been pushed forward from the rightback position, looked out of sorts. Churchill Brothers were content with their lead, but could have enhanced their lead with Odafe and Iyomi missing. And in the 87th minute East Bengal were able to reduce the deficit when Mehtab Hussain curled in a nice one from close to 30 metres out over the head of keeper Lalit Thapa. If one expected East Bengal to try and grab a late equaliser now one was bitterly disappointed as the red-and-gold seemed to be happy with the narrow defeat.
 
I-LEAGUE - The Home of India's Premier Football League
 
SC de Goa 19
Air-India 16
Churchill 14
East Bengal 12
Mohun Bagan 12
 

I-LEAGUE - The Home of India's Premier Football League
 
O. Okolie
(Churchill)
10
 

 
© 2004-2008 IndianFootball.Com | Reproduction in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited