#4 Churchill’s lack of ambition to salvage something from the game
Churchill was one of the most feared forces of Indian football till a couple of years back. Even an iota of opportunity for them could have spelt disaster for their opponents. However, things have changed.
With no overseas player in their squad yet, the Indian players seemed too tame to instigate a spark. The first half witnessed an abysmal performance from the Goan boys as they failed to probe Debjit Majumder even once in the entire half.
Penetration was absolutely minimal and Churchill’s midfield was non-existent. To strike back, teams have to fight back and show exceptional character and grit. However, Churchill never did any such thing to even claw on the Mohun Bagan hull.
They switched their style to keeping possession and started playing as many passes as possible but the passes seemed to be an eyesore as they were all square and instead of invading Mohun Bagan defence, the ball went backwards.
After Mohun Bagan were reduced to ten men, Churchill did little to excite football lovers. Despite a brilliant run from Seriton Fernandes and a lovely ball crafted, the danger was thwarted as there were no Churchill players to prod the ball home. In the last ten minutes, they did beget a couple of opportunities, but Debjit was alert in both the cases.
In the dying embers of the game, Colaco rattled the woodwork from long range. That summed up all the efforts of Churchill.
