Churchill Brother’s Nigerian poacher Odafe Onyeka Okolie continued his stunning form today and single-handedly demolished Central Railways to guide his team to the semi-finals of the 120th Osian’s Durand Cup Football tournament at Ambedkar Stadium here.

The striker slammed five goals in Churchill’s 6-1 win to take his tally to nine from two matches. Churchill will now take on Air India, who created a big upset by dumping defending champions and reigning national champions Dempo 2-1 in the second quarter final.

Earlier, Churchill were in for a rude shock early in the match, with referee Pratap Singh awarding the Railway side a penalty in the seventh minute after Govin brought down Kasif Jamal inside the box. The veteran made no mistake in tapping it past Vinay Singh.

Shell-shocked, Churchill retaliated immediately when Revelino Fernandes made an unwarranted foul on Odafe in the 13th minute, gifting the Goans a free-kick just outside the box. Odafe’s shot deflected off a defender and trickled in.

In the 40th minute Naoba Singh crossed one from the right flank into the box but Railways custodian Raghuvir Khanolkar ventured a bit too far after making the clearance and Chandan Singh chipped it towards Odafe to tap it over Khanolkar.

If the first half show was efficient, Odafe’s second half performance has to be called sublime. Two goals in a span of four minutes after the break had class written all over it. The Nigerian first outmanoeuvred and then outpaced battery of Railway defenders to serve two thundering shots one after another for which Khanolkar had no answer.

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