Anthony Wolfe’s late penalty enabled Churchill Brothers FC to salvage a 1-1 draw against Mohun Bagan in their I-League clash at Tilak Maidan here on Saturday.
The draw sees Churchill remain in third position with 30 points from 17 games, while Mohun Bagan too remained in sixth spot, having garnered 23 points from 16 matches.
Both coaches, Petra Gigiu of Churchill and Khalid Jamil of Bagan, made changes aplenty to their starting line up, three and four respectively, but still could not manage three points in three successive games.
The game failed to live up to its expectation and the first half saw Mohun Bagan take the lead through Aser Pierrick Dipanda Dicka strike in the 39th minute, which was his seventh goal in this campaign.
Haitian winger Sony Norde missed a chance early and then Lybian defender Hussein Eldor hit the woodwork in the 17th minute for Churchill, before Dicka struck six minutes before the end of the half.
What could have unsettled the home side before conceding was the fact that it lost two crucial players before that due to injury. Eldor had to be replaced by Rowlinson Rodriguez and Richard Costa had to be a stretchered off the pitch and was replaced by Aniston Fernandes.
Norde was brought down just inside the Churchill half on the left by Wayne Vaz, who otherwise has had a brilliant time of keeping the Haitian in check. From the resultant free-kick, Abinash Ruidas floated the ball in towards Henry Kisekka inside the box, who climbed to head towards the path of Dicka.
The Cameroonian seemed to have been well covered by Rowlinson, who in his attempt to clear, flummoxed his own advancing keeper Vicky Baskaran. He missed with his right and faintly touched the ball with his leading left foot. As the ball advanced further, Dicka chased it down and tapped home from close.
After the break, Churchill seemed to have regained composure and pressed on for the equaliser but despite some close chances, the side could not manage to find the Bagan net.
The game tuned on its head when defender Eze Kingsley brought down substitute Wolfe inside the box. The Trinidadian coolly converted from the spot to beat keeper Shilton Paul and restore parity.
The scoreline remained unchanged and both teams will rue another missed opportunity at a win, something that has characterised both of their seasons.
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