Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Churchill Brothers had East Bengal on the mat after they beat the Kolkata giants 2-1 in their 11th round match of the I-League at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan YBK on Monday.
Churchill were clearly the better team on the day and combined well, playing a lot of short passes to control the game. But it was East Bengal who took the lead in the second minute itself, thanks to a howler from Churchill custodian Arindam Ghosh, who made a hash of an innocuous Chandam Chitra Singh backpass and let the ball slip into the net.
The visitors scored the winner in the 60th minute 8212; through another own-goal, this time by East Bengal defender Mehrajuddin Wadoo, who deflected the ball in during a goal-mouth melee after Gourmangi Singh sent a minus into the box. East Bengal players claimed that the ball had crossed the goal-line before Gourmangi sent the pass, but referee Suresh stuck to his decision after consulting his assistant.
While Churchill midfielders Jason Vales, Robert Laltmlamuana and Beenish Balan worked hard to control the middle, Odafe showed excellent skills upfront. The hosts, in contrast, lived dangerously in the first half and, but for their goalie Subrata Paul8217;s heroics, could have faced humiliation.
They managed to improve their showing after the break, mainly due to Yakubu Yusif8217;s excellent show as a withdrawn forward. Yakubu8217;s crafty work created chasms in the Churchill defence several times, but after the initial fumble, Ghosh was up to the task. There was a goal-line save and on one occasion, he denied East Bengal8217;s new Ghanaian recruit Ishmael Ado in a one-to-one situation. The latter, making his debut in Indian football, wasn8217;t very impressive in the 90 minutes he was on the field.
With only 12 points after the end of the first phase, the red-and-golds now share the ninth spot with Chirag United, while Churchill, who moved up to 20 points, are placed third.
