MAPUSA: Churchill Brothers held Panjim footballers 1-1 in the Goa Professional League match, organised by Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium, on Saturday.
It was just 30 seconds since kick off when Panjim stunned the I-League side with an early goal from the Velton. Mahesh Kumar went for glory from the edge of the box after dribbling past two defenders but his shot hit the inside of the crossbar before rolling to the midfielder who made an easy tap-in and made it 1-0 for Panjim side.
Down by a goal at the start of the match, Churchill suffered another blow when their striker Pankaj was substituted due to injury. Joshuah Vaz replaced the striker in the 12th minute. The Varca based club recovered from the early goal and made a number of attacks on the opponents but Panjim U-20 defenders Clive Miranda and Schubert D’Costa stood tall to deny Israil from both the wings on many occasions.
On the other hand, Panjim had the best chance to double their lead in the 18th minute when Snedden Rodrigues covered some ground before blasting a powerful shot from inside the box but his attempt was rebounded off the goalpost. While in the 35th minute, they once again came close to increase their lead but this time Velton’s curling shot was pushed to safety by Churchill keeper Ricardo Cardozo.
At the half-time, Churchill coach Alfred brought on midfielder Alber Gonsalves in place of striker Aldrich, this forced Israil to change his position to the front man.
The Red Machine were the dominant side in the second half as they created a number of chances but Panjim defenders were too strong to break. Alber tried his luck from the free-kick, just outside the box but his curling strike was timely collected by keeper Gurpreet Singh.
Down by a goal and with just less than 30 minutes remaining on the match clock, Coach Alfred made another change as he brought in Valerio Rodrigues replacing Arvind Silva in search of the equaliser and the same came in within just four minutes after Churchill’s last substitution Sevlon Cardozo found Alber with a neat cross from the right, the midfielder sent it back to Israil with a header pass in the box, who tapped in from close to make it all square for the Red Machine. Though Valerio was not involved in the goal, the midfielder had started the move with an attacking pass on the wing.
Churchill had the best chance to take the lead in the 72nd minute as Valerio sent a pin-point perfect lob pass to Joshuah in the box but the striker failed to put power in his shot from handshaking distance with just keeper to beat.
At the other end, Panjim’s Mahesh had a chance to confirm all three points for his side but his blistering strike from 18-yards was brilliantly blocked by Churchill midfielder Sevlon to earn at least a point from the match.
