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Churchill Brothers Sports Club stay confident they can seal the top spot — at least momentarily — after securing a positive result against Shillong Lajong Football Club in a crucial I-League encounter at the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Saturday (December 17).
Churchill Brothers who are on 20 points are only a point behind Dempo (21) and should they even draw against Lajong, which is not their objective though, Churchill will go top on a better head-to-head record. But Churchill, not surprisingly, are looking at full points to turn the heat on their title rivals.
“Draw is not an option. It’s our home match and we ought to win. Nothing else will do. We want to move to the top, put pressure on our rivals,” said Churchill manager Danzie Ferrao. The Churchill Manager has also been encouraged by the form of his strikers who seem to be firing now after drawing blanks early in the League.
Shillong Lajong have not really set the League on fire but coach Pradhyum Reddy still has plenty of positives to count on and although Lajong have conceded heavily in the last two games here, Reddy believes a change is round the corner.
“We didn’t have any practice when we came here to play Sporting and against Dempo, it was an expected result. We are hoping to change the pattern against Churchill and secure a positive result,” said the Lajong coach.
Lajong have 12 points from nine matches but a win against Churchill will see them jump three places and land in a spot that the coach feels they belong. “There are three tiers in the league. The top, middle and bottom. We have to move ourselves from the bottom to the middle tier,” Reddy stressed.
