Churchill Brothers displaced their Goan rivals Dempo SC at the top of the league standings after handing out a 6-0 thumping to the visiting Shillong Lajong outfit in a tenth round I-League encounter at the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Saturday.
The comfortable victory helped Churchill take their tally to 23 points, two more than Dempo Sports Club, who have a match in hand against Air India on Sunday.
Gabonese import Henri Antchouet grabbed a second half hat-trick, his first for his new club in the league, after Roberto Mendes Da Silva had opened the scoring from the penalty spot and Lalrindika Ralte had added to it almost immediately at the half hour mark.
Antchouet’s strike partner ND Opara too added his name to the score sheet in the 54th minute.
Churchill were in full control of the game throughout the 90 minutes as they easily dictated the proceedings while their Shillong based rivals continued to be sloppy in possession.
Beto and Henri missed presentable chances in the early minutes of the game but the Brazilian Beto made up for it by converting a penalty, which he had earned after a foul on him by Wailadmi Passah, to give the Goans the lead in the 29th minute.
However the Churchill Brothers faithful had barely stopped celebrating when Ralte scored with a breathtaking effort, as he won possession just outside the box before majestically curling a shot into the top corner of the net.
The Goan side hit the ground running in the second half as they added two more quick strikes to their tally with first ND Opara finding the back of the net after some clever play between him and Henri, before the Gabonese too joined the party as he got to the end of a through ball by Ralte to make it 4-0.
The going got even worse for Pradhyum Reddy’s men when they conceded another penalty just past the half hour mark and saw their goalkeeper Soram Anganba red carded for fouling Ralte. Lajong saw off the immediate danger as substitute keeper Lalthuammawia Ralte saved Opara’s subsequent effort from the penalty spot.
However the goalkeeper could do nothing when Henri was allowed ample space and time to choose his spot by the Shillong Lajong defence and he duly hammered in Churchill’s fifth goal of the game
The Gabonese striker completed his hat-trick when he got to the end of a Steven Dias through ball and confidently slotted the ball home to put the Goans further ahead.
The last ten minutes produced no more goals as Churchill Brothers claimed all three points which puts them 2 points ahead of Dempo.
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