10-man Mohun Bagan hold Churchill Brothers 2-2

Margao, Apr 28 (UNI) Ten-man Mohun Bagan came from behind thanks to a fine brace by Jose Barreto to hold spirited Churchill Brothers to 2-2 draw in their 16th round ONGC National Football league match at Nehru stadium Fatorda today.

Nicholas Muyoti (58th minute) and Odafe Okolie (66th) scored for Churchill Brothers, while Barreto found the target in the 72nd and 85th minutes for Bagan.

With this drawn match, Churchill rose to third place with third place with 23 points, the same as East Bengal but having better goal difference, while Mohun Bagan increased their tally to 20 points and moved on to the sixth spot.

The play did not rise to great heights in the first half though Churchill had a couple of good chances to move ahead.

In the 12th minute, Churchill's Odafe Okolie sent a near perfect 30-yard free kick which missed the mark by inches.

Mohun Bagan came close to scoring in the 19th minute but Barreto's feeble shot missed the target.

Three minutes before the breather, the Kolkata side was reduced to ten men when their medio Lalkamal Bhowmick was sent off by referee Saji Kurien for his second bookable offence in the match.

After a barren first half, Churchill played with a renewed vigour and surged ahead in the 58th minute through Nicholas Muyoti whose perfect header found the net off Dennis Cabral free kick to make it 1-0.

In the next 10 minutes, the Goan outfit increased their lead through Odafe Okolie who dodged past rival defender Ravanand and also deceived the goalkeeper Sangram Mukarjee and placed the ball into the net from the top of the box to make it 2-0.

Mohun Bagan reduced the margin in the 72nd minute off a penalty kick after Churchill's Varun Deep brought down Barreto in the danger zone. Barreto himself converted the spot kick to make it 2-1.

The Kolkata giants restored parity in the 85th minute through Barreto again, who headed in an aerial cross from Mehtab Hussain when Churchill goalkeeper charged out to clear the ball but failed.

Churchill's Odafe Okolie was adjudged man-of-the-match.

UNI