New Delhi: Goan side Churchill Brothers took a step further towards the I-League title on Sunday when they convincingly defeated Kolkata giants East Bengal 3-1 at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao to gain some breathing space at the top.
Churchill are fighting for the league title this season and were favourites for this match. They started attacking right from the start and always kept the East Bengal defenders on their toes.
The home side took a deserved lead in the 33rd minute when Felix Chimaokwu set up Odafe Okolie and the latter didn't hesitate to take the chance as he got past the Bengal custodian to hit the ball into the back of the net.
It did appear that Odafe was in an offside position when he received the ball but the Bengal defenders were guilty of not playing to the whistle.
Churchill continued to dominate in the second half and scored only two minutes into the second session when Felix received a pass on the right flank and carved out a measured cross to Ogba Kalu, who had the easy task of tapping the ball into the back of the Bengal net, which he did.
The 2-0 advantage virtually wrapped up the match and with it all three points for the Goan side. But Churchill were hungry for more and made it 3-0 in the 74th minute when Odafe scored from inside the Bengal penalty box with a ground shot to register his second goal of the match.
Subhash Bhowmick's men did pull one back in injury time when Yusif Yakubu scored but it was too little too late.
Churchill Brothers now top the I-League table with 42 points from 20 matches.
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