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Churchill Brothers defeated Gokulam FC 2-1 in the Match 62 of the Hero I-League at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco da Gama.
The Malabarians' latest signing Marcus Joseph drew first blood for the visitors in the 14th minute after the rival goalkeeper made a horrendous error of not collecting the ball properly.
Dawda Ceesay restored the parity in the 37th minute after latching on to Richard Costa's pass. As the game wore on, Churchill Brothers grew in confidence and got rewarded in the 57th minute through Willis Plaza.
Gokulam FC pressed hard and put bodies forward to score the equalizer but it left pockets of space open in the back and the Trinidad and Tobago striker punished them in the dying minutes of the match.
The final scoreline read 3-1 in favor of Churchill Brothers, who now move to the second spot with 22 points from 12 matches. Gokulam FC, on the other hand, remains on the eighth position with 10 points from 12 matches.
Three major talking points turned the game in favor of the Goan side and not the Malabarians. Here are the three reasons why Gokulam FC lost to Churchill Brothers.
#3 Brilliant defending in the final minutes of the game
Gokulam FC continued to put men forward after they conceded the second goal and their new signing Marcus Joseph pulled the strings from the midfield.
However, they missed the incisiveness in the attacking third as the back-four comprising Wayne Vaz, Rowilson Rodrigues, Hussein Eldor, and Nalappan Mohanraj held their nerves.
Rowilson and Eldor cleared their ball with all their might, which even gave a lot of counter-attacking opportunities for Churchill.
Wayne Vaz and Nallapan Mohanraj also didn't allow the wingers to cut in as they won almost all of their tackles cleanly.
#2 Reintroduction of Wayne Vaz and Chesterpaul Lyngdoh into the Churchill Brothers side
Wayne Vaz missed the last three games owing to an injury he suffered in the game against NEROCA and, Chesterpaul Lyngdoh didn't make a single appearance for the Goan side in the I-League this season.
Their re-introduction to the side changed fortunes for Churchill as they impacted the proceedings of the game immensely. As mentioned before, Wayne Vaz didn't let the wingers cut in and made dangerous overlapping runs.
Chesterpaul Lyngdoh rightfully replaced Nicholas Fernandes in the left wing as his dribbling skills and curling crosses constantly wreaked havoc for the Gokulam defenders.
He even got an assist to his name as he laid the ball in the platter for Willis Plaza to score Churchill's second goal.
With his spirited performance, Chesterpaul Lyngdoh has consolidated his position in Churchill Brothers' starting line-up.
#1 Churchill Brothers being consistently creative in the attacking third
Dawda Ceesay, Khalid Aucho, Willis Plaza, and Anthony Wolfe's combination in the attacking third proved to be too strong for the Gokulam back-four consisting of Justin George, Daniel Addo, Fabricio Ortiz, and Dimple Bhagat.
Moreover, Fabricio Ortiz suffered a nasty injury in the first half and, the coach took him off only in the 65th minute.
Musa Mudde, an attacking midfielder by trade, had to do defensive duties primarily in the match. Dawda Ceesay was correctly awarded the 'Man of the Match' for his influence in the midfield and linking the midfield and attack.
Willis Plaza scored two vital goals, which separated the two sides, and if it weren't for the brilliant goalkeeping of Arnab Das Sharma could have got a hat-trick.
Khalid Aucho did concede a lot of fouls. However, looking at it retrospectively, one would realize that most of them were intelligent ones and if he didn't commit those ones, Gokulam would have been through on goal.
