Churchill Brothers, Air-India split points at Cooperage

Mumbai, January 6: Though there was no change in the scoreboard, the Sunday crowd at the Cooperage had plenty to cheer about. Placed third on the points table, Churchill Brothers were eager to get closer to leaders Dempo, but Air-India gave it back to them pound for pound and once again denied the Goan outfit a win on their home ground in their I-League Round 9 encounter.

Air-India coach Bimal Ghosh had previously mentioned that Churchill was on a higher plane compared to his team, but on Sunday, his players did not disappoint him. The initial five minutes of the match were crucial, when the airmen held their nerves and did not let Churchill striker Iyomi Mboyo a free run. But the tide turned in the sixth minute, when the ball went into the Churchill half for the first time. From then on, it was an evenly contested match where both the sides had their chances, but failed to capitalise on them. Churchill medio Naoba Singh worked in tandem with Mboyo and sent a number of crosses from the right side of the box, but every time Mboyo failed to get past Air-India goalkeeper Sharat EC.

On the other hand, though there were fewer moves generated by the airmen, they did not allow the Churchill strikers to run all over them. Air-India matched Churchill’s pace and vigour and their defenders did not think twice about flinging themselves at the approaching Churchill strikers. Ghosh said later, “We read their attacking game right from the whistle and adapted well, but had Njoh Jean been in his element, the result of the game would have been different.” The form of the Cameroonian forward Njoh has been troubling the coach, who has been impatiently waiting for him to be of some support to Nigerian striker Bashiru Abbas.

Airmen winger Paresh Shivalkar was bottled up by his Churchill counterparts, but Ghosh was satisfied at seeing his left-back Dhanachandra Singh come up with a match-saving performance. Churchill’s replacement for talismanic striker Odafe Okolie, Saran Singh, failed to impress and coach Karim Bencherifa clearly ‘missed Odafe’. However, he had to settle with saying, “We had our chances and dominated the game.”

On the other hand, Ghosh was satisfied with a draw. “It’s an important point to save us from relegation. For the next away match against Viva Kerala, Samson Singh and Uttam Singh will be back, so we will be at full strength,” pointed out Ghosh.

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