Goa Pro League: Churchill Brothers edge Sesa Football Academy

Trijoy Dias' header in the first half was enough for the Red Machines to register a win.

Trijoy Dias’ first-half goal helped Churchill Brothers secure a hard-fought 1-0 win over Sesa Football Academy in their Goa Pro League match played at Duler Stadium on Monday.

Churchill who suffered a defeat against Sporting Clube de Goa in the last match had two changes to their side as their newly-appointed head coach Armando Colaco gave starts to Trijoy Das and Franky Oliveiro. On the other hand, keeper Sapam Singh was the lone change for the Academy Boys who also came after a defeat at the hands of Vasco SC in the last match.

After a midfield play in the first few minutes, the match came into action in the 16th minute when Sesa FA’s Omkar Arondekar nicely dribbled past an opponent in the box and went for glory. But his goal bound strike was blocked by Churchill defender Kidron Fernandes. Churchill took few more minutes to reply as they came with a swift attack in the 24th minute. Yagya Kapoor made a darting run and curled the ball to his teammate Myron Mendes in the box. However, Sesa FA's experienced defender Suraj Singh came to rescue his side with a timely block to deny Myron’s header.

After probing attacks, Churchill finally managed to break the deadlock in the 40th minute as Yagya came with another fine cross to overlapping Trijoy who made no mistake to send the ball in the net with a neat header making it 1-0 for the Red Machines.

Sesa coach Charles Dias made a double substitution at half-time as both U-20 Russel Vaz and Omkar Arondekar made way for Kunal Salgaonkar and Cajetan Fernandes respectively. Cajetan had a chance to make it all square within three minutes in the second half when Vishnu Gosavi sent a perfect corner kick to him, but he failed to keep his header on target as the ball went out for a goal kick.

A few minutes later, Cajetan came with a fine cross to Vishnu, but the winger headed wide from close with just the goalkeeper at stake. Churchill also had an opportunity to double their lead when Rakesh set up Jobern Cardozo with a through pass in the box, but Sesa defender Myran once again rescued his side with a timely block.

The match witnessed a double red card in the 84th minute as Asif made a rough tackle on Vishnu. The two players were then involved in a heated fist fight. Referee Deepraj Sangelkar without any hesitation gave marching orders to both the players with straight red cards.

The dying minutes of the match saw Sesa trying hard to find the equaliser but the Churchill Brothers defence stood tall and kept every danger at the bay.