Churchill Brothers taste first victory in the Goa Pro League

Nash Pereira, Sandeep Suba, Pankaj Sona and Chesterpaul Lyngdoh scored for the Red Machines...

Churchill Brothers overpowered Clube Sao Miguel de Taleigao as they registered a thumping 4-1 win in the Goa Professional League match played at Duler Stadium earlier today. CSM Taleigao coach Pascoal Pereira made two changes to his side which lost 6-0 against FC Bardez in the last match as Kreston Estrocio and Gopi Gad were back in the starting XI. Churchill made four changes as Sagar Limbo, Sandeep Suba and Suvneer Singh were back in the starting XI, while U-20 goalkeeper Swisfron D’Silva made his debut in the GPL for them. First fifteen minutes of the match witnessed an end-to-end affair from both the ends. But as the match progressed Churchill took over and scored the first goal of the match in the 17th minute when Sadeep got hold of the through pass from skipper Pankaj Sona in the box and placed it in the right corner of the net. Two minutes later Taleigao’s Gourav Kankonkar blasted a scorching 30-yard shot which was easily collected by the opposition custodian Swisfron. Churchill further doubled their lead in the 27th minute when Sandeep dribbled past two of Taleigao defenders and passed the ball to U-20 Nash Pereira who made no mistake to slot the ball home. Sandeep was again in action for the Red Machines when his blistering shot from 18 yards missed the target narrowly. Surprisingly at the other end Taleigao reduced the margin, when Pramod Mardolkar found Gourav Kankonkar, in the box through high-flying header and he scored with a smart tap in. On resumption of play after the break, Talegao looked more efficient in the attack and marched many times in the opponent’s danger area but every time failed to find the equalizer. Taleigao’s Sherwin Lobo's shot at the goal was blocked by Churchill defender Basant Rai and the ball rolled over to Manuel Fernandes whose weak shot was effortlessly collected by the keeper. Churchill coach Alfred Fernandes brought Chesterpaul Lyngdoh and Nicholas Fernandes on from the bench to boost his side in attack and both justified the coach's decision. In the dying minutes of the match, Nicholas came up with two brilliant assists. First his curling free-kick was stylishly headed into the goal by Pankaj, while two minutes later Chesterpaul Lyngdoh blasted the ball into the goal off his cross from the left flank making it 4-1 for Varca based club. Nicholas almost got his name onto the scorers list just a minute before the final whistle, but his powerful shot hit the post. Churchill coach Alfred Fernandes said, “We were controlling the match from the start, but a silly mistake from our defender and we conceded a goal. So we let them come for the match. Though we scored four goals, I am not happy with the performance of the boys.” With this win Churchill climb one place to 8th position with 4 points from 7 matches, while Taleigao will remain at the bottom of the table with just one point from the 7 outings. Photo © : RJ 28