The Hindu : Shaiza helps Churchill split points

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 31, 2002

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Sport - Football

Shaiza helps Churchill split points

Margao March 30. An injury time goal by substitute Somatai Shaiza helped title aspirants Zee Churchill hold Tollygunge Agragami to a 2-2 draw and split points in a Tata National Football League match played at Nehru Stadium here on Saturday.

Zee Churchill, which started off well, drew first blood in the 8th minute when medio Tejinder Kumar split the rival defence with a floater to Yusif Yakubu who beat an on-rushing keeper Sandip Nandy and placed the ball into the empty net to increase his tally to 14 goals and become the leading scorer.

Agragami regrouped and and sustained the pressure on the rival goal as it enjoyed a lion's share of exchanges and scoring chances. But it was denied an equaliser when an Ashim Biswas try hit upright.

However, it made amends for the scoring lapses and found the equaliser in the 30th minute. Amitava Chandra's free kick from middle saw defender Mahesh failing to clear the ball to safety. Ashim quickly pounced on the ball and sent an angular shot that found the far post.

After the change of ends, Tollygunge took the lead in the 65th minute. Following a flag kick, defender Subhasish Roy Chawdhury floated the ball into the box, the ball deflected off substitute Prahlad Rawat and came to unmarked Moses Oira who despatched a firm right footer into the roof of the net.

The goal proved to be a wake-up call to Churchill which went all out in the closing stage in search of the equaliser and pressed more men upfront. It bought in Francis Silveira in place of Syed Amin and Somatai Shaiza in place of Tejinder as it `set up' camp in the rival half, alongwith defender Osumanu Husseini.

The host finally succeeded in injury time, when Yakubu, who had scored the first goal, cut past two rival defenders and laid a pass for Shaiza to slot in from close.

With this draw, Churchill maintains an one point lead over its nearest rival Mohun Bagan, which is on 36 points at the end of the 18th round. Agragami remains in ninth position with 20 points from as many matches.

Referee P. Bhaskar slapped yellow cards to Zee Churchill's Mahesh Gowali, Roque Barretto and Tollygunge's Akeem Abolanle. — PTI

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