I-League: Churchill Brothers downs leader East Bengal

Churchill Brothers continued on the recovery path picking up its third straight win (2-1) against the league leader East Bengal in at the Vidyasagar Stadium in Barasat, on Tuesday.

East Bengal wasted the first half chances but did well regrouping after the break.

Churchill Brothers continued on the recovery path picking up its third straight win (2-1) against the league leader East Bengal in at the Vidyasagar Stadium in Barasat, on Tuesday.

Trinidad and Tobago striker Anthony Wolfe opened the scoring for Churchill Brothers before Liberian midfielder Ansumana Kromah doubled the lead to have the visitor 2-0 in front at the break. East Bengal made a comeback after the interval but could only pull one back through Australian Chris Payne’s early second half goal.

Churchill Brothers, which is making a turnaround under the seasoned coach Derrick Pereira, stamped its authority right after the start getting Wolfe to expose the lack of coordination in the East Bengal defence with the early goal. Wolfe, who saw his first attempt in the fourth minute land on the side-netting, made no mistake with the next opportunity coming off a defensive error committed by East Bengal’s Anwar Ali in the seventh minute.

Wolfe backed up well by Kromah in the midfield opened up the attack route for Churchill Brothers keeping the host defence under stress for the greater part of the first half. Churchill Brothers could have doubled the lead in the 26th minute but Ali’s timely interception denied Kromah from finding the target. This appeared a temporary measure as Wolfe found his partner with a nice through-pass in the 34th minute and Kromah made no mistake in foxing the East Bengal goalkeeper T.P. Rehenesh before tapping the ball into an open net.

Early change

East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan introduced Trinidad and Tobago striker Willis Plaza in the 36th minute to stem the slide and succeeded somewhat as the host tried out a few good moves on the latter’s arrival.

East Bengal wasted the first half chances but did well regrouping after the break. Chris Payne reduced the margin for East Bengal in the 67th minute after playing a fine one-two-one with Robin Singh to clear the Churchill Brothers defence. Churchill Brothers defence held up for the rest of the time denying East Bengal any further look at the goal as the host suffered its second defeat in last four outings.

The result: East Bengal 1 (Chris Payne 67) lost to Churchill Brothers 2 (Anthony Wolfe 7, Ansumana Kromah 34).