They get the better of Churchill Brothers 3-1 to go five points clear at top
Panchkula: RoundGlass Punjab FC (RGPFC) is just one win away from securing the I-League title after they notched up a 3-1 victory over Churchill Brothers FC here on Wednesday.
The overseas attacking trio of Luka Majcen, Chencho Gylteshen and Juan scored for the winners, while Martin Chaves scored the consolation goal for the side from Goa.
RGPFC went in attack from the kick off, putting pressure on the Churchill Brothers defence. They had two half chances to open the scoring but could not capitalise with Brandon scuffing his shot and Luka’s header falling safely for the keeper.
Churchill Brothers also had their chance to score in the half but Emmanuel Yaghir’s shot was saved by RGPFC keeper Kiran Kumar Limbu. All pressure of RGPFC showed result in the 27th minute with a wonderful team goal. Brandon Vanlalremdika received the ball from midfield in the left wing who found Chencho Gylteshen inside the box.
Chencho deflected the ball towards the path of Luka Majcen who coolly finished past the Churchill keeper, taking his tally for the season to 13 goals.
RGPFC scored their second goal ten minutes into the second half. Chencho received the ball near the penalty box and skipped past two defenders before expertly finishing past Churchill keeper Nora Fernandes, aided by a deflection of Churchill captain Momo Sisse.
The combination of Luka, Juan Mera and Chencho created and scored the third goal for the hosts in the 79th minute when Luka found Chencho on the left wing and he squared in a pass to Juan Mera whose right footed flick rolled past the Churchill keeper to score his 9th goal of the season.
Churchill Brothers did find one goal back through Martin Chaves in the 83rd minute. Sharif Mohammad found Emmanuel Yaghir and the forward’s cross was met well by Martin Chaves who finished past Kiran Kumar making it a consolation for the away side.
RGPFC will face Rajasthan United FC on March 4.
Sudeva Delhi relegated
New Delhi: Sudeva Delhi FC became the first team to be relegated from the I-League after playing out a 3-3 draw against NEROCA FC at the Chhatrasal Stadium here on Wednesday.
Sudeva now have 13 points from 20 games and even if they get six points from remaining two games, their tally will be 19 points and 11th place finish among 12 teams. The bottom two get relegated every year.
NEROCA took a two-goal lead through Bayi Kamo Stephane and Jourdaine Fletcher, which was quickly cancelled out by a stunning brace from Alexis Gomez before half-time. The Argentine completed his hat-trick early in the second half and Sudeva seemed to live to fight another day until substitute Michael Kporvi equalised in the dying minutes of the game.