The Hindu : Sport : Churchill downs HASC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007
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Sport - Sports : General

Churchill downs HASC

Principal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Churchill Brothers’ skipper Odafe Onyeka Okolic provided some late fireworks to propel his team into the quarterfinals of the 120th Osian’s Durand Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Tuesday.

Churchill defeat Hindustan Aeronautics Sports Club (HASC), Bangalore, 4-1.

Okolic shot Churchill into the lead early on. The game then livened up midway through the second half when HAL pulled one back.

But the relentless Okolic broke open the HASC defence that seemed as porous as a sponge.

Churchill will meet Central Railway in the first quarterfinal on Saturday. The Railway team defeated Tata Football Academy (TFA) 4-1 in the tie-breaker after the two teams were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation time and extra-time.

Churchill opened the scoring in the 13th minute when right-winger Reisangmi Vashum spotted his captain in a scoring position.

Okolic collected the pass with his left foot and drove home the opening goal as the HASC custodian, Gumpe Rime, misjudged the incoming shot.

HASC’s Nigerian defender Joseph Femi moved up and down but Churchill held itself together. Bimal Minz and Murali raised some hopes, but their moves failed to find an equaliser.

Churchill increased its pace on changing the ends as the duo of Okolic and Mboyo Iyomi, the other Nigerian in the Goan team, went on the offensive.

Five minutes into the second half Okolic sped solo from the left beating four defenders only to hit the crosspiece.

Six minutes later, HASC’s Sumit Thapa brought down the onrushing Okolic in the box.

The Nigerian struck his second goal through the resultant penalty.

Unlucky Iyomi

The lanky Iyomi was unlucky as his attempts bore no results. In the 64th minute, Iyomi had everything on a platter with just the HASC goalkeeper in front. In his enthusiasm, Iyomi hit the crossbar.

HASC counter-attacked through Minz who took the ball from the midfield and raced along with two defenders.

As soon as Minz entered the box, he sent a grounder to make it 2-1.

Churchill shot back as Th. Naoba Singh and Chandam Singh made quick mid-field moves to keep Okolic in the hunt. The Churchill skipper fired his third goal in the 80th before he rounded off with a sparkling left-footer from the right corner of the box, four minutes from close.

In the second pre-quarterfinal, Central Railway opened with Soccor Velho in the 27th minute, but Goutam Kujur equalised two minutes into the second half.

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