Panaji: Churchill Brothers beat their Goan rivals Dempo Sports Club 2-0 in the I-League 2024-25 Round Six at the Raia Stadium here.
In a first I-League meeting between the two sides in over a decade on Wednesday evening, the hosts took home the bragging rights. The winners led 1-0 at halftime.
While Churchill continues to lead the current points table with 13 points from six matches, Dempo remains in second position with 10 points.
It was the first time the two illustrious, decorated Goan sides were meeting in the I-League in over a decade, and almost immediately it was clear that there was no time to dust the cobwebs or even preen at history.
Churchill came forward as a barrage and kept winning the ball in crucial areas, forcing Dempo on their heels. All the pressure bore fruit in the most unexpected ways soon enough.
In the 15th minute, from what seemed a routine clearance from a corner, the ball fell to Lalremruata at the top of the box. The defender played a grounded pass into the area to Lalliansanga Renthlei who had his back to goal.
The defensive midfielder collected the pass and shot on the half turn, his angled attempt clipping the post and going in to spark celebrations in the Churchill camp. It was an unexpected goal but a technically brilliant one.
Not happy to sit back on their lead, Churchill never let Dempo settle and the visitors were guilty of constantly spraying passes wide or failing to control routine balls. At half time, they would have been relieved to have gone with a chance to come back.
But that would require Churchill to slip up in a big way, and on the pattern of play it seemed improbable. The hosts kept attacking in droves and had they been more clinical, could have wrapped the game up with half an hour to spare.
The best of these half chances fell to Wayde Lekay, who headed high from a Sebastian Gutierrez corner. It didn’t matter though because in the 75th minute, Lekay made amends and scored a second for Churchill.
Some brilliant wing play from Anil Rama Gaonkar saw the ball crossed perfectly into the box from the right. The delivery was perfect enough to throw off Dempo goalkeeper Ashish Sibi, who was hesitant to commit himself. Lekay shook off his marker, rose perfectly and headed it in.
Dempo had a great chance right at the end to salvage some pride if not points, when Amay Morajkar played in Matija Babovic into the box.
The Serbian’s attempt to loop the goalkeeper backfired and the ball was gathered safely. Churchill rode the injury time nerves with calm to take the points.
