Churchill Brothers SC came from behind to deny Pune FC that much need push at the top of the I-League table. The Red Machines pulled off a sensational victory, 3-2 here at the Tilak Maidan, Vasco when all was looking bleak for the defending champions.

The match saw a lot of end to end action, with both the teams playing attacking and physical game. Two red cards were shown in the match and both teams had to do with 10 men for most part of the game.

It was the Red Machines who drew first blood, when Anthony Wolfe turned his marker at the edge of the box in the 24th minute and smashed the ball into the top corner. After the goal Churchill Brothers kept on the pressure till the fag end of the first half. When it was looking like the match would break for the half time with a 1-0 lead for Churchill Brothers. Musthapa Riga scored in the added time of first half and restored parity for Pune FC.

Churchill Brothers started brighter of the two sides in the 2nd half, Pune custodian Arup Debnath, who has replaced the sent off Amrinder in the first half, made two saves to deny Raju Yumnam and Lenny Rodrigues in the initial minutes of the second half before Douhou Pierre rattled the woodwork with a piledriver from about 30 yards out on the other side in the 68th minute.

Pavlovic put Pune FC in the lead after being set up in the box by Anthoy D’Souza with the move initiated by Gabriel Fernandes in the 69th minute.

Then entered Balwant Singh who was having an impressive game but was yet to find that goal, with which he has become  synonymous this season. He took the ball just ahead of the centre line, got past a couple of Pune FC defenders and scored a brilliant goal in the  90th minute , to put life back into the Churchill Brothers camp.

Spurned up by that sensational goal by Balwant Singh, Churchill Brothers seemed like a team possessed and Bineesh Balan decided to give all the faithful’s a fairy tail ending when he scored in the 90+4 min.

Subash Bhowmick said “Proud to be a coach of this team we came back twice against all odds, I am proud of this bunch of boys, there is still a long way to go before we save the team from relegation but I am sure this boys won’t be relegated”

Churchill Brothers are on 18 points from 18 matches and face Dempo SC on the March 28 at the Fatorda Stadium.