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United SC clinched a crucial 2-0 victory over Churchill Brothers SC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium earlier today with Liberian Eric Brown scoring a brace. More importantly, the defence line kept another clean sheet to gain the away win and clear the relegation threat while pushing Churchill Brothers more towards the wooden spoon.
United SC has amassed 26 points from its 23 matches, while the defeat means Churchill Brothers stay on 22 points from as many outings. This gigantic win lifts United SC into ninth position in the I-League table, just over city rivals Mohun Bagan AC.
Both teams started cautiously and the fear of relegation was visible in the ways the sides begun the match. United SC’s Waheed Adakunle hit the ball just wide in the 5th minute. Balwant Singh had the first chance for the Red Machines in the 11th minute, but hid calm header was easily collected by the United SC keeper Abhijit Das. Within moments United SC play-maker Eric Brown got got himself into a good position to shoot after putting on a marvellous display of dribbling, but unfortunately he skied the ball well over the woodwork.
Though the game was a lazy affair in the first half, Churchill Brothers had some serious scoring opportunities while they fired back to back attacks, thanks to Lenny Rodrigues and Balwant Singh. Egyptian midfielder Shabana hammered from just outside the box which was nowhere close to the net. United SC had to defend deep which left Churchill Brothers no other options but to take only long shots from outside the box.
On 37 minutes however Churchill Brothers were put on the back foot as Shabana was sent off for his second yellow. The Egyptian’s monetary lapse in concentration resulted in a rash tackle and referee Pratap Singh did not hesitate to book him a second time, forcing him to go off.
Just after the break, Churchill Brothers had a superb attack, but could find only Abhijit’s safe hands. In the 49th minute, Eric Brown unleashed a lethal header off a Sukhen Dey cross, which went over keeper Lalit Thapa to give United SC the lead.
The United SC defence had been extremely successful to keep Balwant and Anthony Wolfe at bay till then as the Red Machines threw men upfront for the elusive equaliser. United SC was however lucky in the latter parts as Anthony Wolfe smacking shot was denied by the woodwork. The referee though didn’t give the advantage and a free-kick was awarded to the home team. The resultant set piece was a disaster and posed no danger to the goal of Abhijit Das.
In the 70th minute Eric Brown scores his second of the day to seal the match for United SC. Eric Brown was Churchill Brothers’ nemesis today and almost scored a hat-trick on 83rd minute, but the midfielder failed to dribble past Ravanan and subsequently relinquished possession. That turned out to be the last piece of goal mouth action for the game as United SC sealed a memorable 2-0 away win in Goa.
