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Churchill Brothers registered their third consecutive win as they defeated Pune FC 3-2 in their last group match of the 35th Federation Cup at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Cochin on Monday evening. The victory ensured Churchill Brothers top proceedings in Group A with 9 points.
For Churchill Brothers, Anthony Wolfe scored a brace while Lenny Rodrigues netted the other; while on the other side Gabriel Fernandes scored a brace for Pune FC.
The first goal of the match came in the 8th minute when Anthony Wolfe scored off an Abdel Hamid Shabana’s cross from the right. The early setback hit Pune FC hard, they pressed for the equaliser and eventually equalised in the 19th minute. Churchill Brothers goalkeeper Lalit Thapa managed to palm off Anthony D’Souza‘s low powerful shot only for the rebound to be tapped in by Gabriel Fernandes.
However, Churchill Brothers captain Lenny Rodrigues had other ideas. In the 24th minute, receiving the ball from Wolfe, a composed Lenny broke into the box and beat Amrinder Singh with his left-footer. Just before the break, Gabriel could have added another to his tally but with Mustafa Riga’s centre having Lalit Thapa beaten, his placement went wide.
Post resumption, Gabriel made amends when he intercepted a rebound to blast it past Lalit Thapa in the 53rd minute. In the 63rd minute, even as Riga had a crack at the Churchill Brothers goal, a diving Thapa kept it at bay. And off the counter, Balwant Singh almost scored for Churchill Brothers as Amrinder Singh came in his way as the former tried to lob is past an onrushing keeper.
The post denied Churchill Brothers in the 72nd minute as Wolfe’s rasper rebounded back. But two minutes later, Wolfe made it 3-2. Balwant Singh’s pass was just perfect as Wolfe sneaked in between the two central defenders, went past Amrinder and put it at the back of the net to score the winner for the Red Machines!
