MARGAO, February 7: Churchill Brothers defence looked in total disarray. ``Total strangers,'' was how their technical director, Armando Colaso put it, after they went down 0-2 to unbeaten Air-India in the Philip's National Football League (NFL) at the Nehru Stadium here today.A goal in the last quarter of the either half, the first by Khentang Paite (40th minute) and then by substitute Nitin Shetty (77th) helped the Mumbai Super Division champions waltz to the top of the 10-team standings alongside Mohun Bagan with 20 points from 10 matches, a match extra compared to the Calcutta outfit.
With five minutes to go for the first half, A-I got the crucial break. A deep throw in by defender Jeevan Moras saw custodian Chandrakant Naik misjudge his charge. A-I's Khentang and Churchill's Anit Ghosh in a bid to execute their respective duties, saw the former find the right corner of the net after Ghosh managed a faint touch which backfired in clearance, leaving Sanny a spectator as the ball went past.
In thesecond half, Air-India could have made it 2-0 had substitute Shetty kept his half volley within the framework after Godfrey Pereira's centre from the right found Khentang head down and set Shetty with a perfect half volley. However, Shetty made up for the miss when he curled his left-foot from just outside the box on the right flank past 'keeper Naik. The move was a combined effort which involved Khentang who initiated it mid-way into the Churchill half to substitute Abbas Ali Rizvi, who gently played it forward to the space for Shetty.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
