Churchill beat Air India 2-0

Margao, Jan 18 (PTI) Churchill Brothers failed to liveup to their expectations as they scored an unimpressive 2-0win over lowly Air India to move to the second spot in the10th round of the I-League at Nehru Stadium here today.



After a barren first half, Churchill scored throughman of the match Robert Lalthlamuana (77th) and substituteCharan Rai (80th).



It looked Churchill would score an easy win, but theformer champions failed to get their rhythm right with theirmidfield and upfront�lacking coordination in the first half.



Their upfront lacked the sting in the absence of OdafeOkolie. It was only in the second half, when off colour IsrailGurung was replaced by Khan Than Paite, Churchill''d attacklooked more purposeful. They earned a free kick in the 77thminute and Lalthlamuana curled the ball over the wall whichbeat keeper Kunal Sawant to find the far corner of the net.



The goal acted like a tonic and Churchill attackedwith more vigour and increased the lead in the 80th minutewhen Paite and Durga Boro combined to give a pass to Rai whotapped the ball in after the entire defence was beaten.



Air India, who came with stray moves, came close toscoring twice in the second half but failed to find the net.



Churchill, who moved to the second place, take theirtally to 19 points from 10 matches, one points above SalgaocarSports Club, who have 18 points from nine times.



Air India remained on five points from as manymatches.