MAPUSA: Churchill Brothers Sports Club managed to hold Dempo Sports Club to an entertaining 3-3 draw in the Goa Professional League match, organised by Goa Football Association, played at Duler Stadium, here on Monday.
With two dropped points, the Golden Eagles failed to cement the runners-up position as they have 45 points from 21 matches, whereas the Red Machines climbed to the 7th place with just 20 matches from 19 outings.
Dempo coach Samir Naik made four changes to his side following their narrow 1-0 defeat to Sporting Clube de Goa which ended their title hopes in the last match as Desmon Pereira, Gaurish Naik, Jaison Vaz and Edwin Viegas made it into the cut, while Churchill who lost to Salgaocar FC by a massive 5-2 margin also had few changes to their side as their coach Alfred Fernandes named defender Suraj Singh, midfielders Nicholas Fernandes, James Fernandes and Valerio Rodrigues in the line-up.
Dempo surged ahead in the 7th minute when their skipper Castanha brilliantly curled the ball into the net from the 20-yard free-kick to put his side into the lead.
However, it was just a span of three minutes when Churchill found the leveller through James who smartly stole the ball from Dempo defender Gaurish and made no mistake to beat the keeper Agnelo Gomes with a powerful shot from the top of the box to make it 1-1 for the Red Machines.
The Golden Eagles once again took the lead in the 24th minute when the Churchill defenders failed to clear Latesh Mandrekar’s corner where U-20 midfielder Nestor Dias tapped the ball home from close to make it 2-1 for Dempo.
Churchill coach Alfred replaced U-20 Sevlon Cardozo with experienced striker Uttam Rai who proved his calibre in the very first minute of the second half when the striker brilliantly dribbled past the defenders and shot past the Dempo keeper Agnelo from the top of the box to make it all square for the second time.
Energized by the equaliser, Churchill took just seven more minutes to take the lead for the first time in the match as this time Trinidadian striker Willis Plaza made no mistake to slot the ball into the back of the nylons off Valerio’s fine corner to make it 3-2 for the Red Machines.
Kapil Hoble once again brought them on level terms in the 65th minute when Nestor set up him with a superb through pass who brilliantly finished the ball at the far post from just inside the box to make it 3-3 for Dempo.
Kapil had the best chance to give Dempo the lead in the 76th minute when he was set up by substitute Suraj Hadkonkar with a superb cross but the Churchill keeper James Kithan blocked it brilliantly to keep his side safe.
A few minutes later, another chance went begging for the Golden Eagles when U-20 midfielder Jaison was in commanding position in the box but the lad shot wide from close with just Churchill custodian at the stake.
