MARGAON (Goa): Willis Plaza scored late goal to help Churchill Brothers overcome East Bengal 1-0 in the I-League at the Fatorda Stadium on Saturday.
The home side jumped to the top with three wins from four games while the the Kolkata side dropped to third with eight points from five.
The game looked like meandering towards a draw when Plaza struck his fourth of the season after coming close on at least three occasions earlier in the game.
A measured cross from super-sub Israil Gurung found a lurking Plaza, who banged home past a diving Lalthuammawia Ralte.
Churchill’s Portuguese coach Fernando Tavares rang in wholesale changes as did his Spanish counterpart Alejandro Menendez Garcia as both coaches looked for three points.
East Bengal were playing after a long three-week break, but Churchill’s previous outing was a heartbreaking last-minute loss to Indian Arrows.
The hosts left out keeper James Kithan and midfielders Israil Gurung and Vangchhia from their last outing. They brought in Jaffer Mondal at goal and played with local lads Glan Martins and Richard Costa.
The Red and Golds made four changes playing the likes of Jamie Santos Colado, Abhijit Sarkar, Didika Ralte and Mehtab Singh in place of Asheer, Pintu Mahata, Ronaldo Augusto and Samad Ali Mallick.
Churchill started with a bang
The Goans had the first bite at the cherry as early as the 4th minute when Mapuia was released close to by Plaza, only to earn his side the game’s first corner.
The visitors went on to earn five corners compared to Churchill’s one in the first half-hour. The referee also had a busy half having to flash his card as many as three times. It ended with a Plaza flash strike but the scoreline remained goalless.
Plaza tried to break the deadlock in the 62nd minute but missed from close, two minutes later, he hit the cross-bar.
It was East Bengal’s turn to hit back with Crespi’s crisp right-footer thudding the Churchill bar in the 85th minute and Espada missed the target from a lay-off from Colado a minute.
Gokulam fight back to hold 10-man Aizawl
In Kozhikode, reigning Durand Cup champions Gokulam Kerala fought back a goal down to hold 10-man Aizawl.
Abdoulaye Kanoute scored with a brilliant volley to put the visitors in the lead, but Gokulam captain Marcus Joseph cancelled it out in the 70th minute for a face-saving draw. (Source: AIFF)
