Cuttack: Most of the keenly- contested matches are not often reflected in terms of the goals scored as it happened in the inaugural match of the Federation Cup football tournament at the Barabati Stadium here Sunday. Playing under a scorching sun 2014 champions Churchill Brothers held eight-time winners East Bengal to a 1-1 draw. But all the way it was an exciting encounter with both sides playing attacking football.
After an end-to-end free-flowing game in the first half, East Bengal took the lead through Wedson Anselme who scored in the 66th minute. However, the Goan side restored parity when Ghanefo Kromah, taking advantage of a defensive lapse restored scored in the 81st minute.
Both teams started slowly taking their time to settle down in weather conditions not conducive for good football. It was Churchill who had a first look at the opposition goal, but Chesterpaul’s header off a corner went wide.
East Bengal slowly came into their own and in the 12th minute Willis Plaza tested rival keeper Naveen Kumar with a stiff shot. Churchill retaliated, but skipper Anthony Wolfe’s solo effort was expertly thwarted by ‘keeper Subashish Chowdhury in the 22nd minute. After that both sides had a couple of half chances, but failed to capitalise.
The second session started in much the same vein as the first. There was something for the sparse crowd to cheer about when Oriya boy Pankaj Sona replaced the Churchill skipper. He had a clear look at goal after coming on, but was deemed offside.
East Bengal then took the lead due to the individual brilliance of Anselme. Picking up a through ball from Bikash Jairu, the Haitian player shook off three opposition defenders before side-footing the ball past Kumar in the goal. Anselme had another chance in the 73rd minutes, but a last ditch effort on the part of a Churchill defender saved the day for them.
That miss proved to be costly. With 10 minutes to go for final whistle, Kromah picked up a loose ball off a cutback and tapped the ball home past a stranded keeper, with three East Bengal defenders failing to mark him.
Rajendra Prasad Mohapatra
