New Delhi: East Bengal’s disappointing run was extended by a spirited Churchill Brothers who won 2-1 in an eleventh round I-League clash at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.
The win takes Churchill’s points tally to 20 and they are now five points behind league leaders Sporting Clube De Goa. East Bengal continue to rot in the seventh position.
East Bengal made one change as new signing Ishmael Addo made his debut in the midfield replacing Malswamkima. Churchill Brothers got Jaison Valles and Naoba Singh on the flanks with Bineesh Balan supporting Odafa upfront.
The match couldn’t have started worse for Churchill Brothers as it did today. Chitra Singh’s back pass from 25 yards wasn’t controlled by custodian Arindam Bhattacharya and East Bengal went 1-0 up in the second minute.
The next few moments saw the home side put pressure and enjoy some possession. Renedy Singh’s cross from the right saw Arindam come out to punch but did it unconvincingly.
Thereafter, it was all Churchill Brothers. They got their footing on the match and didn’t allow the Red and Gold’s to come up with any good moves. Jaison’s cross from the left was headed straight to East Bengal goalkeeper Subarta Paul by Odafa Okolie.
Yakubu managed a 25 yarder long shot which was going out but Arindam Bhattacharya spilled it again. The 17th minute saw Churchill coach Zoran Djordjevic entering the technical area for the second consecutive match and the fourth official and the referee requesting the Serb to have his seat.
The linesman was found sleeping on two occasions in the first half. First, a Jaison chip over the defence to Naoba who ran from the back was given offside. A couple of minutes later, Odafa was shown the flag when two East Bengal players were ahead of him.
Youngster Bineesh Balan continued to impress when he cut inside and sent in a fierce right footer which was punched out by Subrata Paul. The very next minute Naoba’s cross saw Bineesh do a dummy but a delay by Odafa to shoot saw the danger being averted by the East Bengal backline.
Jaison turned Nabi and his cross inside the box was cleared in time by Mehrajuddin Wadoo.
Churchill’s equaliser came with Kalu heading an Odafa free-kick in the 32nd minute. The free-kick was awarded strangely to Churchill Brothers after Ishmael’s shirt was being pulled by Chitra!
Naoba’s cross from the right saw Odafa being blocked by Wadoo to take a shot and the rebound fell for Jaison whose final shot went into the orbit.
At the other end, Renedy’s free-kick was headed over by Sunil Chettri. Jayanta Sen’s effort from the center was a feeble one. Confusion between Nabi and Wadoo saw Odafa latch on to the ball and send in a powerful shot which was blocked by Subrata Paul.
Arindam’s horror show continued as he couldn’t collect the cross by Nabi and almost touched the ball outside the box.
The first minute of the second session saw Churchill luckily escape with defender Gouramangi Singh making a goalline save. Nabi’s cross from the right was headed by Sunil Chettri with Arindam Bhattacharya off his line. An onrushing Renedy Singh found Yakubu whose header almost went in had it not been for Gouramangi Singh.
Jaison Valles controlled a Chitra Sen ball and sent in a fierce right footer which was coolly collected by Subrata Paul.
At the other end, the Red and Gold’s looked a different outfit from the first session as they came up with some fine play in the attacking third. Saumik Dey, Renedy Singh and Yakubu combined in a fine move to find Ishmael who final shot under pressure from Robert was stopped by Arindam for a corner. Nirmal Chhetri’s header from the resultant Renedy flag-kick went into Arindam’s hands safely.
Churchill Brothers surged ahead with Mehrajuddin Wadoo adding his name to the scoresheet. A Naoba Singh corner-kick was flicked towards Gouramangi Singh towards the far post. The Manipuri managed to keep the ball in play and his ball into the box was put in Wadoo through the legs of Subrata Paul. East Bengal players protested the decision and felt that the ball had gone out of play but the referee and the linesman didn’t overrule the decision.
Coach Stanley Rosario hoped to instill more pace as he brought on Sanju Pradhan for Mehtab Hussain. Meanwhile, Bineesh Balan pulled it back from the right but Jaison Valles couldn’t tap in. Before the ball went to Odafa, Nabi cleared the impending threat.
Syed Nabi was the most impressive East Bengal player as it was his crosses from the right which initiated most of the attacks. In another such case, his cross found Yakubu who on the turn unleashed a scorching shot but was denied by Arindam Bhattacharya.
Alvito D’Cunha came in for Renedy Singh but didn’t have enough time to create much. East Bengal’s league campaign was disappointing and the loss doesn’t help their confidence as they look to defend their Federation Cup title.
Churchill Brothers seemed to have recovered from the lull period and are comfortably placed in the top half.
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