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Bengaluru FC finished off their Hero I-League campaign defeating Churchill Brothers 3-0, their sixth win (including AFC Cup) in as many matches. The result ensured they ended their campaign with 30 points from 18 matches at the 4th spot in the League table.
Churchill, on the other hand, finished with 20 points from 18 matches, their position in the table to be decided on the morrow.
Keeping an eye on the forthcoming Hero Federation Cup which kicks-off on May 7, BFC Coach Albert Roca preferred to rest a number of his star players. Goalkeeper Lalthuammawia Ralte was handed his first I-League game with the Blues fielding just one foreigner — defender Juanan pairing up with Sandesh Jhingan in Central defence.
With the starting eleven boasting of five U-22 players, the hosts surged into the lead as early as the 5thminute – former AIFF Academy product Gursimrat Singh swaying an inch-perfect cross from the right flank for another former AIFF Academy product Daniel Lalhlimpuia to tap it in.
A minute before conceding the goal, Churchill, however, had bagged the first corner of the match which they failed to capitalise.
The visitors missed an easy chance to equalise a few minutes later when Anthony D’souza despite finding himself in a 1v1 with Goalkeeper Ralte failed to make the most of it.
Meanwhile, some silky touches from the talented Udanta Singh puzzled Churchill defence. And it was the slippery Manipuri who doubled the lead in the 35th minute.
Grabbing a through pass, he cut in past the onrushing rival keeper Naveen Kumar, controlled it, and slotted it home as BFC headed to the interval with a two-goal cushion.
Changing over, Churchill brought in striker Kromah, in an effort to add more thrust to attack. Both Kromah and his captain Anton Wolfe raided Bengaluru with solo efforts but an alert Bengaluru defence wasn’t to be broken.
The final goal for the Blues came in the 84th minute – winger Mandar Rao Dessai curling it in off a pass from Salam Ranjan Singh.
Mandar was adjudged the Hero of the Match.
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In the final round of the Hero I-League for this season, Bengaluru FC host Goan outfit Churchill Brothers FC Goa at Shree Kanterava Stadium tomorrow (April 29, 2017).
Both teams are coming off a big-margin victory in their previous round encounters. Bengaluru staged a remarkable 7-0 win against DSK Shivajians and Churchill thrashed Chennai City FC 6-1. Incidentally, both of these results are the biggest victories this season of Hero I-League.
Both teams are out of the title contention long back, so what would be their motivation?
With Bengaluru winning five straight matches (two AFC Cup and three Hero I-League), they would like to continue the good run and mark as a preparation for the Hero Federation Cup, which will be contested between the top eight teams of the I-League. Federation Cup will be played at Cuttack in Odisha and it is scheduled to start from May 7, 2017.
Not to forget the AFC Cup, which they have won all their group matches until now; they look certain to qualify for the knock-out stage.
The bright spot in their massive last week win is that five players were involved in scoring the goals and all of those came from Indian players. With foreigners failing to play a major role in Blues’ strike force this season, this must have pleased Coach Albert Roca.
“Unfortunately we cannot go any higher than fourth position but we’ve built some fantastic momentum and we need to keep that going. We won’t be taking our foot off the pedal. More importantly, Saturday gives us the chance to thank the fans for sticking by us through the season and I’m sure the boys will make most of it,” said Roca on the eve of the game.
“We can’t undo games and results from the past. It’s always about the present and as it stands, we have something good going for us,” was Roca’s take when asked about the result away from home.
Churchill Brothers, the lone representation from Goa in this edition of Hero I-League, started their campaign on a disastrous note. Much to the credit of Coach Derrick Pereira, exhorted late surge and lifted the team out of the relegation equation. Churchill Brothers now find themselves in a respectable position in the points table.
All eyes would be on midfielder Brandon Fernandes, who has been a consistent performer in this season and Bektur Talgat, the 22-year Kyrgyz nationality player, scorer of four goals against Chennai last week.
The match is scheduled at 07:00 pm and will be telecast live on Ten 2.
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A ten-man Bengaluru FC fell to their second straight defeat going down 2-1 to Churchill Brothers in a game that saw tempers flare at the Tilak Maidan, in Goa, on Friday. Sunil Chhetri’s opener from the spot was canceled out by Anthony Wolfe before Chesterpoul Lyngdoh scored a second-half winner to consign Bengaluru to their first-ever defeat in Goa.
Ambling at a rather lazy pace, the game came to life in the 20th minute when Fulganco Cardozo brought down Roby Norales just as the Honduran was about to line up his shot, prompting referee Ranjit Bakshi to point to the spot. Chhetri stepped up and smashed his take to score for the first time since Bengaluru’s AFC Cup semifinal tie against Johor Darul Ta’zim in October 2016.
Bengaluru began finding their feet in attack and could have got a second minutes later when Chhetri skipped past two men and sent in the perfect cross only for Norales to head wide when he should have buried it home.
But it was a defensive blunder in the 33rd minute that hit Bengaluru the hardest when Chesterpoul Lyngdoh’s seemingly harmless punt from his own half went over John Johnson’s head and met Anthony Wolfe’s run. With Amrinder Singh off his line and stranded, the striker got Churchill an equaliser with a simple finish.
The goal seemed to have put a spring in the home side’s stride as they went on to grab the lead in the 53rdminute. Picked out by Wolfe in space, Chesterpoul Lyngdoh kept his calm before placing past Amrinder to make it 2-1.
Chasing the game, Roca introduced Udanta Singh and Mandar Rao Dessai to infuse some pace on the wings, pulling Norales and Nishu Kumar out in the bargain. The Blues began throwing numbers in attack and kept possession but kept running into a stubborn Churchill side who had ten men in defence.
CK Vineeth had the best chance in the 73rd minute when he looked to turn in a cross from Mandar. But his take was tipped over brilliantly by Priyant Kumar Singh in goal to deny the Blues.
The Blues were reduced to ten men on 79 minutes as Johnson was given the marching orders following a tackle on Chesterpoul. Tempers flared at the touchline as the Blues looked to chase the game back with the disadvantage, but it wasn’t to be.
Earlier, the Blues started with a tweaked line-up from the side that went down to East Bengal last week as Albert Roca handed Roby Norales a start ahead of Udanta Singh, while Alwyn George and Nishu Kumar came in for Lenny Rodrigues and Sena Ralte. Churchill, meanwhile, had players missing in Clifford Miranda, Brandon Fernandes and Seriton Fernandes.
The Blues next travel to Jordan, where they will take on Al-Wehdat in the 2017 AFC Champions League Qualifier 2, on Tuesday, before another away fixture in the League against DSK Shivajians in Pune on February 5th.
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Churchill Brothers, who finally opened their account after a hard-fought draw against DSK Shivajians, will be cautiously optimistic against title favorites Bengaluru FC, whose air of invincibility and high flying run was cut short by a 2-1 defeat against Kingfisher East Bengal.
The respective results saw Bengaluru FC in the fourth position behind Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Aizawl FC while Churchill Brothers move up to the eighth position above Chennai City and Minerva Punjab.
Bengaluru are still the team to beat and a defeat after three straight wins means that the defending champions would be desperate to put things right as they take on the Red Machines.
Roca, the former Barcelona assistant coach wants his team to continue playing their game even though East Bengal managed to outsmart them.
“Obviously I can’t disclose how we are going to play tomorrow. But the way that we play, we cannot change a lot. We cannot play long balls and we have tried always more or less to play our game. We don’t want to think too much or cry about the last result and I will adjust to see how my team reacts,” he concluded.
As far as the Goan side are concerned, they will be looking to build on the positive performance against DSK Shivajians which saw them walk away with a precious point. However, they find themselves up against a star-studded team like Bengaluru FC but Alfred suggested that his team will not be intimidated by the big names.
The kick-off is at 07:05 pm at the Tilak Maidan in Goa and the match will be telecast live on Ten 2.
