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I-League: Abhijit Sarkar scores two in dying minutes as Indian Arrows stun Churchill Brothers

Substitute Abhijit Sarkar scores twice in injury time to seal a 2-1 comeback win for Indian Arrows against Churchill Brothers in the I-League.

By Aravind
Deepak Tangri (right) of Indian Arrows wheel away after Abhijit Sarkar's goal against Churchill Brothers during their I-League match (Image: AIFF Media)

Vasco, February 10: Indian Arrows, who are often accused of conceding late goals, delivered an extraordinary fight-back to win 2-1 against Churchill Brothers in their I-League encounter at the Tilak Maidan, Vasco on Saturday (February 10).

NEROCA 0 - 0 Aizawl FCNEROCA 0 - 0 Aizawl FC

The Arrows were trailing 0-1 till the 90th minute after conceding in the 11th minute through Dawda Ceesay. They were staring at another defeat until substitute Abhijit Sarkar scored two injury time goals to turn the game upside down.

Chennai seek first home winChennai seek first home win

Following the stupendous win over high-flying Churchill Brothers FC Goa, the young Turks are eighth on the table with 14 points in 15 matches. The Red Machines are positioned seventh, having amassed 16 points from 13.

There were two changes for Indian Arrows from their last outing against East Bengal. Rahum Ali's injury meant coach Luis Norton de Matos had to bring in Nongdamba Naorem and local boy Princeton Rebello also got a start, dropping Abhijit Sarkar to the bench. But few would have predicated Sarkar, alongside Boris Singh, would make such an enormous impact to the game. For Churchill Brothers, the only change to the team that beat Aizawl FC was Kalu Ogba replacing Bektur Talgat Uluu.

It was Churchill Brothers who drew first blood. Nicholas Fernandes beat Asish Rai and worked his way to the by-line, before floating a ball into the far post. Dawda Ceesay calmly nodded the ball past Arrows keeper Prabhusukhan Gill to make it 1-0 in the 11th minute.

There were no notable actions other than Ceesay's goal in the first-half.

After the changeover, Churchill Brothers' Eldor Hussein rattled the crossbar from a free-kick in the 54th minute.

The work-rate of the youngsters could not be faulted and they kept going at the Churchill defence, but nothing came of it as they barely tested James Kithan.

This was until Kithan almost gifted the Arrows a goal in the 65th minute.

A shot by Deepak Tangri from outside required a routine save from the keeper. Kithan spilt the ball right in front of Rahul. The forward wasn't expecting the opportunity and ended up fluffing his shot.

As the clock was winding down, Matos tried to salvage something from the game and brought in Abhijit Sarkar, Edmund Lalrindika Boris Singh and Boris and Sarkar made a game-changing impact in the dying minutes of the game.

Just when Churchill felt the game was won, Boris Singh fought off the challenge of Eldor Hussein and ran down the right flank before picking out Sarkar, who slid in and put the ball past Kithan.

They stunned Churchill Brothers when they breached their defence once again.

Following a quick flurry of passes between Deepak Tangri and Edmund Lalrindika, the ball landed in the feet of Abhijit Sarkar, who was left unmarked inside the box, to curl it into the net.

Indian Arrows will have a five-day recovery period before they host defending champions Aizawl FC at the same venue on February 16. Churchill Brothers will fly to Imphal to challenge debutants Neroca FC on February 14.

Match result: Indian Arrows 2 (Abhijit Sarkar 90, 90+3) bt Churchill Brothers 1 (Dawda Ceesay 11)

Source: AIFF Media

Story first published: Saturday, February 10, 2018, 20:59 [IST]
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