Churchill Brothers score maiden win against 10-men Bengaluru

Churchill Brothers scored their maiden win of the season when they came back from behind to down 10-man Bengaluru FC 2-1 in the fifth round of the hero I-League match, here on Friday.

After Anthony Wolfe (33rd) cancelled Sunil Chhetri 22nd minute goal, Chesterpoul Lyngdoh scored the winner in the 54th minute to give Churchill Brothers their first win at Tilak Stadium. They have moved to seventh place with four points from five matches.

The defending champions, Bengaluru FC who suffered their second straight defeat remained on fourth place with 9 points.

Bengaluru FC made three changes from the team they lost against East Bengal bringing in Nishu Kumar, Alwyn Gerorge and Roby Norales in place of Lalmangaisanga Ralte, Lenny Rodrigues and Udanata Singh.

While the home team made two changes bringing in Surchandra Singh and Surahuddin Mollick in place of Brandon Fernandes and Seriton Fernandes.

Bengaluru FC, who were looking to get back to winning ways after losing to East Bengal, controlled the midfield with Sunil Chhetri and Alwyn George combining well but could not get past the rival defence who kept them at bay until defender Fulganco Cardozo committed a foul on Roby Norales inside the box to concede a penalty.

Sunil Chhetri converted the penalty to put the defending champion in the lead in the 22nd minute.

Bengaluru defender John Johnson hesitated to intercept a long ball from Chesterpaul and Anthony Wolfe placed the ball to the far post past onrushing keeper Amrinder Singh in the 33rd minute.

Churchill Brothers who were looking for their first win after drawing against DSK Shivajians came back strongly in the second half as they showed lot of urgency in their attack and Anthony Wolfe who scored the first goal set up Chesterpoul Lyngdoh inside the box with a through pass. The latter controlled the ball and before Johnson could get back to him he placed the ball into the net past keeper Amrinder Singh to his left.

Bengaluru coach Alberto Rocha made two quick changes midway in the second half in search of the equaliser as they kept on the pressure and nearly scored but alert keeper Priyant Kumar Singh made excellent save punching the ball over the bar off in the 72nd minute off Vineeth shot.

The scene shifted at the other end and Amrinder Singh had to make a save off Talgat shot.

Bengaluru FC attempt to draw the match received a severe blow when they were reduced to ten men in the last 20 minutes when defender John Johnson got red card for a dangerous foul on Richard Costa and the home did well to keep the citadel in tact to score their first win at home.