Air India 0-1 Churchill Brothers SC – A Beto strike seals three points for the Goan side

Churchill Brothers edged past Air India 1-0 in a tightly contested round 18 I-League encounter at the Balewadi stadium in Pune on Thursday.

Beto scored the only goal of the game at the half hour mark for the visitors after the Airmen failed to clear a routine free-kick into their box.

Air India gave Manandeep Singh a start alongwith Nigerian Emmanuel Annosike, who made his first start for his new club while Royston D’Souza was benched by Santosh Kashyap.

Both N.D Opara and Henry Antchouet missed out for Churchill Brothers, as neither was in the squad against Air India. Mohammed Rafi led the line for the Goan outfit.

The first chance of the game fell to Churchill Brothers, when they won a freekick just outside the box. Beto curled the ensuing freekick over the wall and the ball seemed headed to the bottom corner before Pawan Kumar brilliantly intervened, to deny the Brazilian in the 6^th minute.

Sandeep Sangha then tested Arindam Bhattacharya on the other end, but his effort was straight at the keeper.

As the half progressed Churchill took hold of the proceedings but they seemed to miss their influential strikers upfront. They largely failed to trouble the Air India keeper, before Beto yet again tested him with a drive from just outside the box, but the Airmen’s custodian collected calmly.

Rafi then saw his snapshot flash just wide of the post as Pawan Kumar was kept on his toes by the Goans.

The visitors eventually took the lead when Air India failed to clear a ball into their box and it fell to Beto, who made no mistake, as he slotted the ball home from point blank range in the 30^th minute.

Santosh Kashyap’s side almost forced in a equalizer close to halftime, when Sandesh Gadkari’s tame effort from inside the box took a double deflection and had clearly beaten Bhattacharya in goal, but luckily the keeper saw the ball go just wide of his post.

The hosts almost scored an unexpected leveler just after the break, as Bhattacharya made a hash of a routine clearance and then got his angles all wrong when Sandeep Sangha hit a tame shot towards goal. Luckily for the Goan side, his shot just about went out for a corner.

Air India definitely started the second half much brighter than the first, as Gadkari and Manjit Singh looked dangerous in attack. However a goal still eluded them.

At the hour mark, Bineesh Balan then almost got to the end of a centre by Rafi, but Basfore read his intentions well and closed him down.

Gadkari then came within inches of connecting with a cross as Basfore flashed a ball across the goalmouth. Mohd Shafi was the next to try his luck, as his effort from a tight angle stung the palms of Bhattacharya.

Manandeep struck a fine volley which just didn’t dip enough to trouble the Churchill custodian before Lenny Rodrigues replied for the Goans with a sweetly struck drive which went just over the bar with Pawan Kumar beaten.

Rafi was next to try his luck, as he was left open in yards of space in the box, but his shot lacked power and was easily collected by Pawan Kumar.

Beto went close from another free-kick and then Rafi yet again missed a golden chance inside the box, which proved  to be the last opportunity of note in the game, as Manuel Gomes held on to register a 1-0 win which helps them close the gap to Dempo SC to seven points and with a game in hand over their Goan rivals.