Mariners’ beat Churchill to keep title race alive

by Chittu Shetty March 4, 2018

Mohun Bagan preferred to continue their second-half resurgence against Churchill Brothers whose fate will hang on until the final day of the Hero I-League 2017-18 as the Mariners blanked the Red Machines 2-1 at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco on Saturday (March 3, 2018).

Goals from Nikhil Kadam (54‘) and Akram Moghrabi (76‘) sandwiched a strike from Osagie Monday(74‘) to secure all three points from their final outing in Goa to keep hounding Minerva Punjab FC, NEROCA FC and Kingfisher East Bengal. The result means Churchill Brothers have to win their final game against Minerva Punjab to stave off the relegation. They are in the ninth place now with seventeen points and trail Chennai City FC by 2 points.

As for Mohun Bagan, the win sees them move above East Bengal into the third spot with thirty points with one game left. Going into the game, Churchill Brothers had a forced change as injured Wayne Vaz was replaced by PM Britto. Mohun Bagan had two changes from their match against Indian Arrows at the same venue. Gurjinder Kumar who had impressed in that game was given a start in place of Ricky Lallawmawma and skipper Kinshuk Debnath was restored into the heart of the defence with Rana Gharami taken off.

With the result of the game having a major of bearing on both teams, it was Bagan who had the first sight of goal. Moghrabi tried a cheeky back-heel which didn’t come off in the 10th minute. Churchill had the bulk of possession and dominated the half but Bagan held on as first-half ended 0-0. Churchill breached the Mohun Bagan defence once in the first-half but the official cancelled the same because of a foul by Frincis on Kingshuk Debnath.

Also Read: Gaurs need a point to qualify for knockout stage

All the action was reserved for the second half. At the onset of the second half, Churchill Brothers continued from where they left. They laid siege to the Bagan defence; however, Bagan hit them on the counter and scored in the 54thminute. Dipanda Dicka was picked on the right channel with a ball from the middle. Osagia Monday tried to close him down while Eldor Hussein was caught out of position. Dicka capitalised and squared the ball to an unmarked Kadam who drilled the ball into the net.

Churchill kept fighting and they got the equaliser in the 74th minute. Alfred Fernandes made a bold tactical decision as he brought on central defender Pawan Kumar and pushed Monday into a forward position, and it paid off. Ceesay released substitute Nicholas Fernandes down the left who delivered a low cross into the box and Monday tapped it in to make it all square.

However, Bagan caught Churchill off guard to cut short their jubilation within two minutes. Following a melee inside the Churchill box, substitute SK Faiaz delivered a sumptuous ball to the far post and Lebanese striker Moghrabi headed past Kithan at the near post to make it 2-1 to keep their hunt alive.

In their final fixtures, both teams have away games with Mohun Bagan facing Gokulam FC on March 6, 2018 and Churchill Brothers playing table-toppers Minerva Punjab FC two days later.

Also Read: Minerva slips to open up I league title race once again

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