Minerva Punjab beat Churchill Brothers 1-0, win maiden I-League title

That's that! It ends 1-0 and Minerva Punjab players and staff run onto the field. This is one incredible story. A club that are in the league this season only because they were made immune from relegation last year have gone on to win the league title. 

So that is curtains for Mohun Bagan, they get one point out of it and brings to an end a rather topsy-turvy season for the Mariners. Gokulam will be proud of what they have done, they finish seventh

Nervy moments for Minerva, all hands to the deck for them. Churchill came close once again but, at the moment the ball is just flying about as one team try to provide the perfect long ball and the other answers with the longest possible clearance. Not high on quality but compensated by the drama of the situation

Coming to the climax now and Minerva are taking their own sweet time to get up from every miner fall. The fourth official will give a considerable amount of additional time

Five minutes away from history for Minerva and Bali comes close to sealing it. Volleys from a cross first time but the Churchill keeper gets down in time to block it

Neroca's Ward pushes Al Amna and the Syrian decides to take matters into his own hands. Dudu comes to seperate the two but ends up almost getting involved himself. Referee and linesman step in say 'Enough lads, get on with it!' and they do. A mutual admiration society here. Well almost.

Defensive change for Minerva, William Opoku goes off for Bazie Armand. Churchill have stepped up the ante and even hit the crossbar just seconds before the substitution. Will this be a change they regret?

And East Bengal have drawn level. A brilliant header from a very good cross and finally, East Bengal find the back of the net 

And in that time, Chencho charges from the left into empty space and cuts it inside. It rolls away as Girik is unable to get to it and the attack fizzes out

In Kolkata, Al Amna latches on a lose ball inside the box and volleys it and sends it soaring over the bar

No sooner did I say that, Dawda Ceesay takes collects the ball inside the D and tries to curl it into the top right corner. The ball goes just wide 

Not much to report, both Minerva and Churchill unable to get beyond midfield into the danger areas. Not that the Minerva fans would care

Dudu takes a shot from the edge of the box, it is devoid of power but the goalkeeper is wrong footed. Fortunately for him, the ball rolls just wide of the left post

Minerva are chasing history here. If things stand this way, they will be the first team from North India to win the Indian top flight league title since 1996. Incidentally, it was a team from Punjab 

Well wasn't that something. So far, it is all going Minerva's way. They lead 1-0 and, as things stand, are I-League 2017/18 champions. Here are the scores so far: 

Minerva 1-0 CB

East Bengal 0-1 Neroca

Mohun Bagan 1-1 Gokulam Kerala

Minerva come close yet again. It was William again as he dashed into the box and took the shot but the keeper saves. Seconds later William comes close again, twists around a little but Monday is able to stay with him and blocks the shot

Cross came in, there were four Mohun Bagan defenders and two Gokulam players in the box and yet, Gokulam score. It is all square in Kozhikode

Felix Chidi cuts inside the one defender marking him inside the box, runs a little to his left and the keeper is left scampering for the ball. Chidi keeps calm and turns it in. East Bengal were dominant and have put in wave after wave of attacks but Neroca needed just this one

After that Justin blooper, there have been two one on one situations and both times, the attacker has hit it straight at the keeper. Kudos to the latter for keeping a calm head but Khalid Jameel won't be a happy man at half time

The cross comes in from the right and it comes to Joby Justin, he is on side and the keeper is completely caught out. And yet, he is unable to turn it into the empty net. Just minutes earlier, Dudu missed another sitter that came from a scrappy corner kick. Byt Justin's miss is going into the global football blooper reels. That was sensational

So the scores are as follows: 

Minerva 1-0 Churchill 

Gokulam 0-1 Bagan  

East Bengal 0-0 Neroca

As it stands, Minerva are top of the standings, followed by Mohun Bagan, Neroca third and East Bengal fourth. 

Minerva prepare to take a long throw in and there is a lot of pushing and pulling inside the box. It all comes to a boil and the players decide to start a tussle with each other, a few fists threatening to fly. But the referee comes in to diffuse the situation. The first 30 mins have gone and Minerva may not have had higher possession but they are absolutely lethal on the counter

Dipanda Dicka turns it in for the Mariners. A Bagan shot from long range bounces off the cross bar but Gokulam make a mess of the clearance, Dicka surpasses everyone and scores his 13th goal of the season

At the other side of the pitch then, Francis gets the better of the Minerva defender and takes the shot. Limbu makes a timely save keeps Minerva's lead intact

And Minerva have one hand on the trophy! Crazy sequence of events here. Minerva come close twice, first Chencho's shot is blocked once by the Churchill keeper and then Sangwan's shot shoots across the face of goal from right to left, William Opoku was there and he took one touch to bring the ball under control and the second to turn into the empty net. That is Minerva's first goal in three matches 

Girik intercepts a ball right side of the box and sends a cross in. His interception was good but the cross was ineffective. 

So far so good for Minerva as there have been no goals elsewhere too. The attacks of both sides are being bested by the defence so far.  Monday attempted a shot from long range after a Churchill corner was cleared ineffectively. It went close but not into goal

We are off in Punjab, Bengal and Kerala. No goals to show yet in any of the matches. We will be keeping an eye primarily on Minerva vs Churchill Bros but will be bringing major updates of the other two matches as well

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Once again, we are have a final matchday in the I-League with more than one team having a chance at the title. Last season, Aizawl FC shocked everyone with a hot run through the season and beating the giants of the league to the title. This led to said giants, especially East Bengal breaking the bank and signing as many players as possible from Aizawl. This mean that this season, the giants have been upstaged by two minnows - Minerva Punjab and Neroca FC. Thus is the strange beauty of league football that we have teams that are experiencing their first or second years in the top flight having a shot at the title itself. Sky is the limit fo them. Click here if you want to a run down on the permutations and combinations for the day. To keep things short: Minerva Punjab beat Churchill Brothers, game over for the other three. Let's get down to it then