Super Cup: Willis Plaza’s brace helps Churchill Brothers outwit Delhi Dynamos in Qualifiers

Bhubaneswar, March 15: Churchill Brothers Football Club of Goa, redeemed their season somewhat, with a tactical odd goal in their victory over Delhi Dynamos in the first match of the Hero Super Cup.

Riding on a brace from Trinidadian Willis Deon Plaza, Churchill entered the main draw of the tournament, scheduled to begin on March 31 and will face Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan in the round of 16.

Super Cup, India's premier football competition got underway in Bhubaneswar on Thursday (March 15).

Overcoming a cautious start, the Goan side got over the line in extra-time, after Kalu Uche had given the Delhi side a fifth-minute lead.

At the Kalinga Stadium, Churchill, placed ninth in the Hero I-League and face relegation, ended the six-match unbeaten run of the Indian Super League side who had rallied at the end of the league to finish eighth in the competition.

.@ChurchillB_Goa put up a spirited show as they beat @DelhiDynamos in a hard-fought encounter in the opening match of Hero Super Cup. @ChurchillB_Goa will now face @Mohun_Bagan on April 1st. #HeroSuperCup #DDFCvCB pic.twitter.com/DlCGzupg14

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 15, 2018

The 'Red Machines' played in Blue while the Lions were the home side on Thursday with their White jerseys. Miguel Angel Portugal, the Portuguese coach of the Delhi side, fielded a 4-5-1 formation with the 35-year old Kalu Uche, the Nigerian talisman and captain, as the lone target-man in the attack.

Alfredo Fernandez, coach of the Goan outfit chose to go with a more traditional 4-4-2 formation with Gambian Dawda Cessay and Trinidadian Willis Deon Plaza upfront.

Delhi start strong in the first half, Churchill claw their way back

The ISL franchise started strongly in the game as they controlled the proceedings from the midfield where Uruguayan Claudio Mirabaje Correa had an outstanding half. The Lions got a goal as early in the fith minute when the Kalu Uche, fresh from a 13-goal run in the ISL, latched on to a ball just outside the box on the left after a neat 1-2 with Nandhakumar, before unleashing a pile-driver which crashed into the back of the net with the Churchill custodian Ricardo Cardozo hopelessly out of position.

Delhi continued to dominate possession. Romeo Fernandez, the Lions' right-sided midfielder, then found Uche again in the 12th minute with a wonderful cross but the Nigerian's header was brought about a neat save from Cardozo. A minute later, Lalianzuala Changte missed with a clear sight at goal from inside the box.

After the first quarter of an hour, Churchill slowly started finding their feet into the game. They started to work the wings, but were particularly let down by PM Britto's crosses from the right. Britt put paid to all his otherwise tireless efforts with at least five instances in the entire half where a quality cross could have yielded better results.

In the 29th minute, Britto cut in from the right and found Nicolas free from what appeared to be a deflected cross off a Delhi Dynamos defender, inside the box. His neat trapping and finish was disallowed for offside. It could have led to a frustrated challenge about a minute later from Jovel martins on Nandhakumar, leading to the first booking of the match.

In the 32nd minute, Churchill's second-half comeback was complete, when Nicolas found Plaza with a wonderful floater from the left wing. The Trinidadian controlled the ball in his own imitable way and drilled a shot through the near post into the back of the net to which the Delhi's Spanish goalkeeper, Xabier had no chance.

Delhi were clearly unhappy and pressed harder with Mirabaje for more incisive attacks. In the 39th minute, he went off on a sizzling solo run but Churchill defended stoutly. There was another feeble effort from Changte in the two minutes of added time and the teams went into the lemon break honours even.

End to end action in second-half:

Churchill had clearly shed all inhibitions after the first-half display, as they immediately brought in Israel Gurung for Yendremban Meitei at the start of the second (46'), thus bolstering the midfield by sacrificing a defender. Gambian Cessay of Churchill in fact also had the first chance of the half when he found himself free inside the Delhi danger area but delivered a confused finish.

It turned out to be a half of sustained end to end action with both sides creating opportunities and missing with equal disdain. Mirabaje's effort from a free kick in the 56th minute sailed over and away from the bar while Plaza in the 61st minute unleashed another one of his lightning strikes from top of the box which brought about a good save from Irueta.

While Delhi were still ahead in possession and were pressing hard, their efforts to weave through the Churchill defence lacked enough imagination and penetration. Churchill, on the other hand, seemed to have embarked upon a strategy of soaking in the pressure and trying to release Plaza with the long ball from their own half, which was causing problems for the Delhi defence.

In the 64th minute, Portuguese surprisingly replaced Mirabaje with Vinit Rai. The action continued as both sides kept missing chances.

In the 77th minute, referee Srikrishna Ramaswamy, effected his second booking of the match, with Delhi's Eduardo Moya Cantillo getting into the book for a reckless challenge on Plaza. Both sides tried hard for the winner and effected their second substitution in the 85th minute.

Churchill got in Oneyama for Bektur while Delhi replaced Changte with David Ngaihte. However, it was still Plaza, who by the end of 90+4 minutes of added time, had not only created but also missed the most chances to score from both the sides.

Extra-time winner

After a very sluggish first 15 minutes of extra time, Willis Plaza breathed life into the game as an innocuous long ball from Jovel Martins from deep inside the Churchill defence, saw Plaza trap beautifully over two defenders inside the Delhi box and neatly wrong-foot the Delhi keeper to beat him again at the near post.

Nicolas Fernandez had to be replaced with an injury immediately after the goal with Uttam Rai, but Churchill held on gamely to pull off a great win.

Source: Press Release