Churchill Bros shoot HAL
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MARGAO, JAN 14
The Churchill Brothers quartet of Kayne Vincent, Binesh Balan, Durga Boro and Zakeer Mundampara toyed with HAL, Bangalore thrashing them 3-0 in a ninth round match of AIFF’s 4th I-League at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Friday. All goals came in the second half.
If Churchill Brothers spurned easy scoring chances, blame it on striker Kayne Vincent and custodian P Pramod.
Churchill spearheaded by Kayne Vincent and Binesh Balan thoroughly dominated the opening session during which both got a close look at the rival goal. The HAL defence stood strong with support from the midfield and especially left wing back Rohit Chand soaked the pressure from the rival attackers.
Churchill’s best chance came in the 12th minute when Israil Gurung intercepted the ball from his own half and essayed a fine through pass but striker Binesh Balan’s feeble try went straight into the waiting hands of the HAL keeper P Pramod. Two minutes later midfielder and man-of-the-match, Zakeeer M nearly opened the scoring but HAL’s keeper once again came to his side’s rescue thwarting the attempts from Zakeer in the nick of time after his defence crumpled under pressure.
The HAL citadel survived two scares. First, striker Binesh Balan could have scored from handshaking distance and later Zakeer’s rasping drive was blocked by the HAL keeper.
At the other end, HAL were struggling to contain the rival forwards and had one scoring opportunity in the opening session but veteran striker R C Prakash’s snap shot went over the crossbar.
At the strike of the lemon break, Churchill had two scoring opportunities but striker Kayne Vincent ballooned over from five yards off Zakeer’s assist.
Churchill started the second session in a whirlwind fashion. Striker Binesh Balan put Churchill ahead in the 51st minute. Binesh picked up the ball and made a solo run outwitting a couple of rival defenders and beat the HAL keeper all ends up.
HAL nearly found the equaliser when striker Jagaba Hanza Amaba was in an ideal position but he delayed in taking the shot. However, before he could do the damage it was cleared for a flag kick in the 60th minute.
Minutes later R C Prakash wasted a gilt edged scoring opportunity from captain J Murali. The HAL citadel fell for the second time in the 61st minute after Zakeer slotted past the rival keeper off a pass from Durga Boro from the right via Binesh Balan.
Stung by the double blow, HAL nearly reduced the margin but Prakash’s booming shot hit the post much to the dismay of the HAL bench.
Down by two goals, the visitors failed to get past the rival rearguard but Churchill simply added misery to HAL’s woes in the 86th minute when striker Vincent Kayne found the net with a super skill as he outpaced rival defenders and drew out the rival keeper to punt the ball into the net.
With this win, Churchill are in the third place with 16 points from nine matches while HAL remained with eight points from the same number of encounters.
