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Churchill Brothers hold Panjim Footballers in Goa Pro League

Panjim Footballers and Churchill Brothers Sports Club played a 1-1 draw in a GFA Goa Professional League. (Photo courtesy: Goa Football Association)

Panjim Footballers and Churchill Brothers Sports Club played a 1-1 draw in a GFA Goa Professional League fixture, played at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, on Saturday evening.

Velton D’Souza (1’) scored for Panjim Footballers while Israil Gurung levelled in the second half for the Red Machines.

“We conceded a silly goal in the start of the match which helped the Panjim side play confidently. We also lost our main striker initially in the game and hence we had a setback.” Churchill Bros. Coach Alfred said.

Panjim Footballers stunned the I-League side when Mahesh Kumar shot from the edge of the box however his shot hit the crossbar to which Velton who was at the right place at the right time tapped in to take the early lead.

in the 10th minute, Churchill Bros’ striker Pankaj had to be substituted due to injury.

“However in the second half we came back stronger and played better; with a couple of substitutions we were able to score the equaliser and would even take home three points if we didn’t miss a couple of sitters at the fag end of the match,” subs we missed a couple chances at fag end of match sitters we missed” Alfred added.

Churchill Bros. recovered and tried to get in the equaliser but were denied time and again by the rival defenders Shubert and Clive.

At Half time, Churchill Bros brought in Alber Gonsalves and later substituted Arvind Silva for Valerio Rodrigues before they levelled terms as Selvon Cardozo sent in a beautiful cross to Alber who headed it to Israil who made no mistake to tap from close range to get the match to where it all began.

“Two of our defenders were injured just before the goal and i didn’t have time to replace the defenders, Churchill Bros. took advantage of the situation and scored the leveller.” Panjim Footballers Coach said.

Churchill missed another chance as Valerio sent pass to Joshuah in the box but the striker failed to sweep the ball past the rival keeper.

(Goa Football Association)