PANJIM: Churchill Brothers Sports Club secured an easy 2-0 win over Guardian Angel Sports Club in the Goa Professional League match organised by Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, Sunday.

Sevlon Cardozo (24’) and Mannas Sarkar (51’) scored in each half to earn full three points for the Red Machines.

Churchill Brothers coach made three changes to his side which lost against Calangute Association is the first match as newly signed Uttam Rai, Banpynkhrawnam N and Janak Kudmal found his names in the starting XI. 

Guardian Angel coach Riston Rodrigues made only one change bringing in foreign signing Abel Hammond replacing Aslon Oliviera. 

The Red Machines were high on confidence after inclusion of some great players, while players like Israil Gurung and Valerio Rodrigues were strengthening their bench. They started the match impressively and took just eight minutes to look at the goal but Guardian keeper Ram Sroop brilliantly blocked Mannas Sarkar’s powerful shot from inside the box. 

Mannas had the best chance to take his side into the lead in the 19th and 20th minutes when he was set up in the goalmouth by Uttam with fine crosses but on both the occasions the striker failed to control the ball with just keeper to beat. 

In the 24th minutes, the Varca based club opened their account when Curchorem keeper Ram misjudged Janak’s long ball in the box, Sevlon Cardozo took advantage of the loose ball and directly sent the ball into the empty net.

They had the best opportunity to inflate their lead in the very next minute when Mannas found himself in the commanding position after receiving a short pass from Uttam but the striker saw his shot hit the goalpost.

Five minutes later, Janak tried his luck from the distance but his shot was pushed away for a corner by keeper Ram. Whereas Guardian Angel SC also had a chance to equalise in the 39th minutes when Nicholas Rodrigues curling free-kick was finding opponent’s net but Churchill custodian Ricardo Cardozo stretched to his limit to deny the Guardian skipper. 

A few minutes later, Churchill keeper Ricardo was lucky as Abel’s curling cross hit the crossbar and came into the play. 

On changing the sides, Churchill took just six minutes to double their lead as once again Guardian keeper Ram made the mistake to clear Alber Gonsalves free-kick from outside the box. Taking advantage of the same Manas who was just a step away from the goal line, tapped in to make it 2-0 for his side. 

At the other end, Nicholas’ low cross found unmarked Perryson Rebello in the box but his powerful strike was brilliantly blocked by keeper Ricardo for a corner. Ricardo was in the action again when Abel was set up in front of the goal by Perryson but the Churchill keeper made no mistake to block him in another one-on-one. 

In the dying minutes of the match, Ricardo once again blocked Perryson shot from 6-yards, while a minute later, Nicolau Colaco saw his header hit the goalpost, off Nicholas’ corner.