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Churchill Brothers surged to the top of the I-League ladder for the
first time after securing a comfortable 6-0 victory over Shillong Lajong FC 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 striker Henri Autchouet scored a second half hat-trick, his first in the competition. Brazilian midfielder Roberto Mendes da Silva had earlier opened the scoring with a penalty in the 29th minute before Lalrindika Ralte made it 2-0 almost immediately. After the change of ends, ND Opara added his name to the scoresheet before Henri joined the party with a hat-trick of goals.
Churchill were a far superior side and it was evident early in the game, when the hosts controlled the proceedings amicably and Lajong gave away the ball far too easily.
After Beto and Henri had missed in quick succession, Churchill surged just before the half hour mark, when Beto won a penalty after being tripped inside the danger zone by Wailadmi Passah. Beto made no mistake from the spot.
If Churchill’s opening goal was fortunate, there were no doubts about the second. Lalrindika grabbed a ball just outside the box and majestically curled a shot into the top corner of the nets.
The opening session saw Churchill add two quick goals. At first, Opara played a nice one-two with Henri before finding the back of the net and then Henri got on to the right end of Lalrindika’s through ball to make it 4-0.
What seemed bad going for Lajong got worse in the 62nd minute when Churchill won another penalty and goalkeeper Soram Anganba was flashed the red card for a tackle on Lalrindika. Substitute goalkeeper Lalthuammawia Ralte stood confidently between the posts and saved Opara’s subsequent penalty.
A few minutes later, though, Lalthuammawia could do nothing as Henri was allowed a free run inside the box to hammer Churchill’s fifth goal.
The Gabonese striker completed his hat-trick ten minutes from the end after he gave finishing touches to a through ball from Steven Dias.
