Churchill Brothers' players pose after winning the IFA Shield tournament final against Mohun Bagan in Kolkata on Thursday. (PTI Photo)
KOLKATA: Churchill Brothers, who had beaten Mohun Bagan in the IFA Shield final last year, did an encore at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday. And the pain from the 1-2 loss would have been more this time for the home team.
The 122-year-old club, keen to lend the gloss to the centenary celebrations of their historic IFA Shield victory in 1911, were actually leading through an Edeh Chidi strike and looking good before their familiar foes snatched it away with second-half goals from Odafa Okolie and Charan Rai. As the Goan side celebrated on the synthetic turf, the home team players were left pondering what might have been.
Earlier in the afternoon, Southern Samity crushed Shillong Lajong 4-0 in the play-off for third place. Edmilson drew first blood in the sixth minute and completed a hat-trick with goals in the 36th and 60th minute. Francis Xavier slipped in one in the 53rd to make it an embarrassing scoreline for a team that was in the I-League last season.
Mohun Bagan and Churchill looked to be on equal footing in the early exchanges, both teams not averse to moving the ball forward, Mohun Bagan through studied build-ups and Churchill with more direct and deep passes in the attacking third - Odafa and Boima Karpeh clearly the targets.
But Bagan were soon making more inroads, and keeping the ball in the opponents' half ensured that it stayed away from the dangerous Odafa. Their attacks acquired an extra edge every time it came down the left flank, where Snehashish Chakraborty floated a few inviting crosses to the goalmouth.
In the 23rd minute, Chidi feigned past Gourmangi Singh but his left-footed grounder went abegging across the goalmouth, just out of Ashim Biswas' reach. Ten minutes later, Chidi's lovely back-heel in the box set Gouranga Dutta free but the right-half sent a weak grounder with the Churchill goalkeeper at his mercy. Then, in the 36th minute, Snehashish saw his left-footer deflect for a corner.
The goal came a minute later. Mohanraj's chip into the box was knocked into the goalmouth twice by Anwar and Chidi was around to volley home from close on the second occasion.
Churchill were suddenly stirred into more urgency and the first half ended with Deepak Mondal doing well to get the ball out of harm's way as Odafa and Boima converged on a long ball menacingly. The visitors presented a much more purposeful unit in the second half, and it didn't take long for the equaliser to arrive.
Raju Mangang found Odafa at the far post with a chip from the right and the Nigerian nodded in from close, goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee not quick enough as he moved along the line. Chidi, clearly Bagan's most potent weapon, responded by letting fly a left-footer that grazed the crossbar.
Churchill, suddenly more mobile and purposeful, went ahead when Charan Rai, under pressure from Anwar Ali, found the net to the left of Sangram with a measured chip from top of the box after Odafa and Boima had left the Bagan defence in some disarray.
Both teams found a few bright moments thereafter and some bookings through acts of desperation, but Mohun Bagan never quite got back the promise of the opening half, and the echoes from 1911 faded fast.
Teams:
Churchill Brothers: Vinay Singh; Yumnam Raju Mangang (Khantang Paite 79 {+t} {+h} ), Gourmangi Singh, Ravanan Dharmaraj, Robert Lalthlamvana; Israil Gurung (Binish Balan 46th), Lenny Rodrigues, Zakeer Mundapara (Chandam Singh 92nd), Charan Rai; Odafa Okolie, Boima Karpeh.
Mohun Bagan: Sangram Mukherjee; Kingshuk Debnath, Deepak Mondal, Anwar Ali, Mohanraj; Gouranga Dutta (Satish Kumar 66th), Jayanta Sen, Rakesh Mashi, Snehashish Chakraborty; Ashim Biswas, Edeh Chidi.
Referee: A. Rowan (Services).