Indian football wrap, March 19: Churchill Brothers beats Dempo SC 3-1; Sreenidi Deccan holds Inter Kashi to 2-2 draw
Indian football wrap, March 19: Churchill Brothers beats Dempo SC 3-1; Sreenidi Deccan holds Inter Kashi to 2-2 draw
Churchill Brothers FC Goa continued its I-League 2024-25 title challenge with a commanding 3-1 victory against Dempo SC in the highly anticipated Goa Derby at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Wednesday.
Dempo defender Mohamed Ali’s (26’ og) own goal put Churchill Brothers in the lead, before Wayde Lekay (35’) stole the show, scoring one goal and setting up another for Stendly Fernandes (58’). Shaher Shaheen (66’) scored a consolation goal for Dempo at the end. Lekay’s performance saw him climb to third in the league’s goal-scoring charts, taking his tally to 11 goals for the season.
The victory kept Churchill well in the hunt for the I-League 2024-25 title race, as it moved on to 37 points from 19 matches, two ahead of Inter Kashi. Dempo, meanwhile remain ninth with 22 points from 19 matches, just three points clear of the drop zone.
Inter Kashi required a late goal to secure a point and stay close on the heels of the top spot on the table with a 2-2 draw in the I-League 2024-25 against Sreenidi Deccan on Wednesday.
Having watched Churchill leapfrog it on the table courtesy of its win over Dempo, Inter Kashi was under pressure to deliver.
In the 17th minute, Sumeet Passi latches onto a loose ball on the right flank before delivering an inch-perfect low-fizzing cross into the six-yard box. K Prasanth merely had to tap it into an empty net.
Three minutes after the restart, Lalromawia, having played a brilliant one-two on the right flank, delivered a delicious curling cross into the six-yard area. Castaneda slammed his header into the net.
The equaliser enabled Sreenidi to up the ante, and in the 72nd minute, after a long period of pressure, it took the lead. A long throw-in from the left flank found its way through a mass of Kashi defenders right on the head of Brandon Vanlalremdika, who duly headed it in.
In a chaotic end to the game, Kashi got the equaliser when Bidhyasagar Singh scored a second in the first minute of injury time after a defensive error in the Sreenidi ranks.
Published on Mar 19, 2025
