Churchill Brothers beaten again; Goan FC moves to first slot

Nagoa: A 39th minute first half strike by  Aaren D’Silva was enough for Goan Football Club to register a solitary goal win over Churchill Brothers S C in the GFA Professional Football League match played at Nagoa grounds,Verna on Tuesday.

The match winning goal  came off following a  move by striker Liston Colaso who deftly beat Churchill’s tall and well built defender Nenad Novakovich on the right flank –well outside the box –and then after dodging two more defenders fed unmarked Aaren Silva who only had to tap the ball past helpless Churchill  keeper Kunzang Bhutia.

While Meldon looked confident in frustrating the forays of Churchill strikers; Saviour Gama, besides keeping an eye on the attacking Churchill Brothers strikers, overlapped  and twice saw his efforts miss the mark narrowly , in the second session of play.

While Churchill Brothers had a better say in the first session, Goan Football Club took over the proceedings and to a large extent, controlled the second session.

Churchill Brothers S C defender Nickson Castanha gave a harrowing time to Goan F C keeper Shubam Dhas with his fierce looking free kicks on three occasions. Twice the Goan F C keeper almost spilled the ball into the nets while on the third ,he made a clean collection.

Had Castanha’s tries in the second session and that of medio Anniston Fernandes entered the nets, Churchill Brothers could have scripted a different story. But that was not to be .On one occasion in the first half; Anniston’s angular header hit the post and came back into play with the entire Goan F C defense beaten.

Churchill Brothers S C started well which saw them pressing hard and could have gone into the lead when medio Anniston sent a long lob seeing the Goan F C keeper out of position. However, his try landed on the outside netting, giving a real scare to their rivals .

Thereafter,  Churchill’s striker Lamgoulen Hangshing unleashed a powerful shot as the match progressed but the Goan F C keeper Shubam could not be beaten.

Churchill’s defender Nickson and medio Anniston saw their efforts being safely collected by Goan F C keeper as the match progressed in the first sessioin when Churchill Brothers had a clear say in the proceedings.

The script of the match changed drastically in the second half with Goan F C controlling the major chunk of the proceedings with neat passes and positional play.

It was during this period of ascendency that the Goan F C’s defender Saviour Gama along with Liston demonstrated their character as they went on creating several threatening moves.

With this win,Goan F C have now collected 48 points in nineteen matches  and move to the top of the table displacing Dempo S C from that spot who are on 47 points in nineteen matches. Churchill Brothers S C is on the fifth slot with 39 points having played twenty matches.