Churchill Brothers SC and Sporting Clube de Goa played out a 1-1 draw in an I-League encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Sunday. Both the teams played postive and attacking football and many more goals could have been scored, with Churchill missing many scoring opportunity.

Very early into the first half, Churchill Brothers started to show their intention to draw first blood, In the 6th minute itself Anthony Wolfe had a chance to score but his power shot was saved by the Sporting Clube goalkeeper.

Churchill was seen dominating the proceedings with good moves in the midfield but were lacking in the final third. Then in the 15th min Churchill Goalkeeper Lalit Thapa was called into action when he saved a certian goal. Velito had taken the shot from close range.

Velito again tested Lalit Thapa in the 20th minute with a longer ranger, but it  went a bit wide of the goalpost. Balwant Singh who was not looking at his best during the game had an opportunity in the 27th minute but he scuffed his shot. Anthony Wolfe had done the hard work and provided the cross to him.

The best chance for Churchill Brothers in the first half came on the 43th minute, when Abdel Hamid Shabana wriggled past a couple of Sporting Clube defenders and provided a low cross to Balwant Singh from the right but he mistimed his shot and was cleard to safety.

Within a minute into the second half Churchill Brothers goalkeeper made another good save. Bioma Karpeh had tried to lob the ball past Thapa, but he read it well.

Then in the 50th minute young Alesh Sawant sent in a pin point accrute cross which was brought down by Anthony Wolfe for his strike partner inside the box but Balwant scuffed his shot and missed a certain goal. Around 53 minutes, Jaison Vales who was working hard in the midfield had another oppurtunity to give that much needed goal for Churchill Brothers but he shot straight at the goalkeeper from a rebound. The initial shot was taken by Abdel Hamid Shabana.

The last quarter of the match saw both the goals. Anthony Wolfe who was playing with an injury to his shoulder sustained in the last I-League game against Pune FC, collected the ball at the edge of the box on the right side in the 72nd minute looked up and sent out a blistering shot which gave the the Sporting goalkeeper no chance. But Churchill’s joy was short lived as Boima Karpeh equalized for Sporting Clube de Goa in the 80th minute when he placed his curling shot from left into the Churchill net.

Churchill Brothers technical director Subhash Bhowmick praised his boys efforts: “Iam very pleased with the effort put in by the boys. We created so many chances, but were unlucky not to convert. We still have to fight it out to stay clear of relegation.”

Sporting Clube de Goa coach Oscar Buzon said, “I am happy with the performance put in by my team, we have many players out due to injuries after the 1st leg of the I League, but Iam pleased with the way the entire team is standing up and getting counted. Our priority is to finish in the Top 5”.