Churchill were clearly the better team on the day and combined well, playing a lot of short passes to control the game. But it was East Bengal who took the lead in the second minute itself, thanks to a howler from Churchill custodian Arindam Ghosh, who made a hash of an innocuous Chandam Chitra Singh backpass and let the ball slip into the net.

But that was the only bright spot for the red-and-gold brigade. The Goans showed character after conceding the own-goal and made a series of raids into the opposition defence. They were finally rewarded with the equaliser in the 32nd minute through Man of the Match Kalu Ogba Nnanna, who successfully headed home an Odafe Okolie freekick.

The visitors scored the winner in the 60th minute — through another own-goal, this time by East Bengal defender Mehrajuddin Wadoo, who deflected the ball in during a goal-mouth melee after Gourmangi Singh sent a minus into the box. East Bengal players claimed that the ball had crossed the goal-line before Gourmangi sent the pass, but referee Suresh stuck to his decision after consulting his assistant.

While Churchill midfielders Jason Vales, Robert Laltmlamuana and Beenish Balan worked hard to control the middle, Odafe showed excellent skills upfront. The hosts, in contrast, lived dangerously in the first half and, but for their goalie Subrata Paul’s heroics, could have faced humiliation.

They managed to improve their showing after the break, mainly due to Yakubu Yusif’s excellent show as a withdrawn forward. Yakubu’s crafty work created chasms in the Churchill defence several times, but after the initial fumble, Ghosh was up to the task. There was a goal-line save and on one occasion, he denied East Bengal’s new Ghanaian recruit Ishmael Ado in a one-to-one situation. The latter, making his debut in Indian football, wasn’t very impressive in the 90 minutes he was on the field.

With only 12 points after the end of the first phase, the red-and-golds now share the ninth spot with Chirag United, while Churchill, who moved up to 20 points, are placed third.