East Bengal came from behind to hold Churchill

Churchill Brothers' efforts to regain the second spot in the I-League points table got a jolt as East Bengal came from behind to hold Churchill Brothers to a 2-2 draw at the Nehru Stadium on Sunday.

Churchill, who led 1-0 at halftime, scored through Odafe Okolie (37th) and Felix Chimaokwu (56th) while East Bengal fought in the second half and scored through Mehtab Hossain (58th) and Sanju Pradhan (68th) to restore parity. Thus the hosts, who needed a win to move to second place remained on third place with 39 points from 25 matches, one point behind second placed Pune FC.
East Bengal collected 30 points from as many matches. The visitors looked the better side in both the halves, were more organised in the first half and created ample scoring chances but lacked the finishing touches. Alvito D'Cunha had a glorious chance to put East Bengal ahead in the 15th minute when he was set up by Beingaichho Bekhokhei with a through pass but he saw his effort hit the post. Few minutes later Churchill's keeper Arindam Bhattacharya made a diving save to put the ball out of danger off Syed Rahim Nabi header. Churchill, who rarely troubled the rival defense went ahead in the 37th minute. Reisangmi Vashum worked his way on the right and on entering the box relayed the ball to Odafe Okolie who got the better off his marker and essayed a left footer that found the net. Few minutes later, Odafe Okolie could have increased the lead but his effort went off the mark from inside the box. Ten minutes into the second half, Churchill Brothers citadel had a close shave but alert keeper Arindam came to his side's rescue to put out Nabi header off a Kabra pass. Churchill celebrated it with a goal off a penalty, awarded when Kalu Nnna was brought down by keeper Gurpreet Singh inside the box, which Felix Chimaokwu converted.

East Bengal made two quick changes bringing in Sanju Pradhan and Baichung Bhutia in place of Alvito D'Cunha and Budiram Tudu and the move paid off as they scored two quick goals to restore parity. Syed Rahim Nabi from the right relayed the ball to Mehtab Hossain who from the top of the box beat keeper Arindam in the 58th minute. East Bengal attacked with more vigour after the goal as they came with repeated forays and earned a penalty in the 68th minute when Raju Yumnam brought down Saikat Saha Roy inside the box as he was moving with the ball. Pradhan who took the kick converted it.


Churchill Brothers pressed hard to find the winner but failed to get the elusive goal.