New Delhi: Odafa Okolie scored his 11th goal to guide his side to their first victory in six games as they downed Mohammedan Sporting in a 10th round I-League encounter at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.
Churchill Brothers made three changes to their starting line-up as D Raju, Bineesh Balan and Arindam Bhattacharya came on for Naoba Singh, the injured Reisangmi Vashum and Lalit Thapa. Mohammedan started with their strike duo of Mike Okoro and Theodore Sunday despite injury concerns.
The match started with Mohammedan Sporting stringing together some good passes in the middle as the honours for the first attempt went to Mohammedan as Okoro slashed a left footer in the third minute.
At the other end, Robert Lalthampuana’s free-kick was flicked by Odafa Okolie for Felix who couldn’t latch on to the ball.
A fine counterattack saw Churchill’s three foreigners being involved. Kalu found Felix who released the ball for Odafa to cut inside and slam the ball straight to Mohammedan custodian Naseem Akhtar.
Theodore Sunday and Robert Lalthampuana had weak attempts for their respective sides before the former capitalising on a mistake by Raju almost walked into the box until Gouramangi Singh cleared the danger.
Kalu fouled Adebayo and the resultant free-kick from the Mohammedan midfielder was well-saved by a diving Arindam Bhattacharya.
Mohammedan had the best chance of the first session as Mike Okoro’s pile-driver was saved by Arindam with the rebound hitting the hand of Theodore Sunday and thus the visiting side being awarded the free-kick.
Anit Ghosh imposed his presence at this moment by cutting whatever was being thrown at the Churchill front two. He made a sliding tackle on Felix who had latched on to a good diagonal pass.
In another instance, he got in the way of Robert after Odafa sent a perfect through ball.
Churchill’s Robert could have almost scored an own goal off a Mohammedan corner-kick as his clearance went straight to Arindam Bhattacharya.
Odafa Okolie went down too easily on being challenged by Anit Ghosh inside the box but referee A.Arjunan didn’t read much into it. The Kolkata side’s midfield did much of the hard work while Chitra and Kalu didn’t look much into the game.
Mohammedan wasted a free-kick from the edge of the box on the right as Mike Okoro’s shot didn’t bother the Churchill backline.
In the final minutes of the first half, Bineesh Balan’s cross to Felix saw the Nigerian’s strike being collected by Naseem Akhtar.
The second session started and defender Sheikh Azeem cleared the lofted chip by Felix for Odafa inside the box in the 50th minute.
The very next minute saw Raju gave away a needless free-kick from which Theodore Sunday almost scored.
Around the hour mark, Odafa Okolie did all the dirty work and laid for Chitra but the midfielder decided to pass instead of going for a first time shot.
Khan Thang Paite’s free-kick from the right could have gone in had Kalu or Odafa managed to get a touch on it.
Mohammedan launched a quick counterattack with Theodore getting the better of Govin Singh and his final shot sailed over the bar with goalkeeper Arindam Bhattachrya off his line. At this Churchill coach Zoran Djordjevic was getting frustrated near the touchline and his frowned expression said it all.
The goal came in the 70th minute off a Naseem Akhtar mistake. The veteran goalkeeper came out to win the aerial battle and Bineesh Balan’s shot hit the inside of the far post. Odafa got the ball and turned to slot it in an empty net.
Interestingly, Djordjevic then got Odafa as a fifth defender with Felix playing the lone striker. Churchill Brothers were seen making aimless clearances.
Mohammedan could have got something off the match had substitute Vimal Pariyar scored after getting the through ball from the middle. The former East Bengal strike rightly opened his body to shoot at the far post but it lacked power which made it easy for Arindam to collect.
The Black and Whites would curse themselves for missing their chances and thus not being able to take the advantage off an off colour Churchill Brothers. The three points were much needed for the Goan side and the relived expression on the face of the players was there for all to see.
More from Goal.comI-League Round 10 preview
Comments
0 comment