Willis keeps Churchill’s wheels rolling

MINOO FERNANDES | NT

 

VASCO

Willis Plaza’s twin strikes helped Churchill Brothers FC register a crucial 2-1 win against Indian Arrows in an exciting I-League encounter played at Tilak Maidan, Vasco on Saturday.

With the win the Red Machines kept their title hopes alive as they are now placed second on the points table with 28 points, two short of league toppers Chennai City FC.

Meanwhile, by scoring the two goals Plaza became the highest goal scorer so far in this I-League season with 15 goals to his credit. The Trinidadian striker was eventually adjudged the man-of-the-match for his excellent performance.

Churchill Brothers goalkeeper James Kithan should also be credited for the win, as it was he who saved a penalty kick in the dying minutes of the game to help his team escape a draw.
At half-time break, Churchill Brothers led 2-1 with Willis Plaza scoring both their goals in the 22nd and 45th minute respectively, while Deepak Tangri pulled a goal back for Indian Arrows in the 38th minute.

Resorting to a 4-3-3 formation, Churchill Brothers looked to exert pressure in the upfront through captain Dawda Cessay, Anthony Wolfe and Willis Plaza, while their midfield was left to be managed by Israil Gurung, Nenad Novakovic and Chesterpoul Lyngdoh which however looked lacklustre.

Visitors Indian Arrows failed to take advantage of the situation even as Churchill’s defenders Rowilson Rodrigues, Nickson Castanha and Hussein Eldor kept a tight vigil on the rival strikers who had the possession for well over 20 minutes.

In the 22nd minute, Churchill Brothers created an accelerating move that culminated into a goal, putting them into the lead.

It was Dawda Cessay who stitched a nice move down the left flank from where he dispatched a neat cross across the face of Indian Arrows goalmouth from where Churchill’s Willis Plaza headed to send the ball crashing in, giving no chance at all to the keeper Prabhsukhan Singh.

Undeterred by the unexpected reverse, Indian Arrows fought back hard and found the equaliser in the 38th minute. Their defender Deepak Tangri leaped high over Churchill’s defenders and headed in to connect the corner kick nicely floated by striker Abhijit Sarkar.

The young lads of Indian Arrows thereafter gave torrid time to the hosts but they were not able to create a real dent to their rearguard.

On the contrary, Churchill Brothers FC once again surprised the visitors with a gem of a goal in the 45th minute by Willis Plaza after Dawda Cessay sent a nice assist to him from the middle.

Plaza on receiving the pass, danced around the rival defence before dodging two rival defenders and unleashing an angular left footer to the loud applause from Churchill’s fans. Soon after changing ends, Plaza had a glorious chance to complete his hat-trick but he dodged for too long and in the process lost the ball to a rival defender.

Churchill Brothers meanwhile replaced unimpressive Chesterpoul with young Aniston Fernandes while Nicolas Fernandes came in for Ceesay, but the changes hardly improved their tempo in the match. Indian Arrows too replaced Abhijit Sarkar, N Mithei and Amarjit with Vikram Pratap, Sanjiv Stalin and Akash Mishra respectively but nothing worked in their favour either.

As time wore on, Indian Arrows seemed to have lost their focus thereby allowing Churchill Brothers take control of the proceedings. On one such instance in the 68th minute, Wolfe dashed into the box on his own but was brought down by a rival player. Referee Senthil Nathan however paid no heed to what seemed to be an offensive, which should have been a penalty in Churchill’s favour.

Plaza had another chance to score his third goal but he headed the ball over the bar. Churchill Brothers brought in Cavin Lobo in the 81st minute and in the next minute their medio Aniston was pulled by the referee for handling the ball, resulting in a penalty in Indian Arrows’ favour. Substitute Sanjiv Stalin stepped up to take the penalty but Churchill keeper James Kithan saved his shot.

Though they looked vulnerable to the attacks of Indian Arrows, Churchill Brothers survived some anxious moments and seemed to have heaved a sigh of relief after the match finally ended 2-1 in their favour.