Churchill Brothers squandered a golden opportunity to climb to the top of the I-League table, settling for a 1-1 draw with lowly-placed SC Bengaluru in an overall lacklustre encounter on Monday, February 3, on the Raia Panchayat ground.
The first half saw SC Bengaluru dominate, relentlessly pressuring and testing the Churchill defence. Their two close strikes against the woodwork highlighted their attacking intent.
The draw meant Bengaluru earned their first-ever away point and snapped a six-match losing streak on the road.
With nine points, Bengaluru climbed out of the bottom spot for the first time in two months, pushing Delhi FC into 12th place.
Churchill Brothers could only blame themselves for giving Bengaluru too much space in the first half. In the 23rd minute, Bengaluru almost took the lead from a corner, but the ball hit the crossbar.
Churchill briefly recovered from the scare, and in the 26th minute, Stendly Fernandes made a dangerous run into the rival box, only to be thwarted by a solid Bengaluru defence.
Bengaluru weren’t deterred, continuing to press, and in the 28th minute looked close to scoring from another corner, but once again, the woodwork came to Churchill’s rescue.
In the first half, Churchill’s attack lacked bite, while Bengaluru looked far more dangerous with the ball, creating multiple openings.
In the second half, Churchill Brothers emerged as the stronger side after coach Dimitris Dimitriou decided to bring in new signing Rafiq Aminu and Colombian midfielder Sebastián Gutiérrez, who was returning from injury. Their introduction brought fresh energy to the hosts’ attack.
The tactical changes paid off in the 61st minute when Gutiérrez delivered a brilliant outside-of-the-boot pass to Aminu, who was making a well-timed overlapping run.
The Ghanaian showed great composure and quick feet before sliding the ball across the face of the goal. With goalkeeper Yuya Kuriyama beaten, Wayde Lekay cleverly back-heeled it into the empty net for Churchill's opening goal.
After taking the lead, Churchill Brothers pressed for the second goal, creating several promising chances, but they were unable to convert.
While they looked dangerous in attack, it was SC Bengaluru who found the back of the net from a set piece, levelling the score with an equaliser from Clarence Fernandes in the 73rd minute.
Despite the setback, the Red Machines continued to push for the winner till the dying minutes of the game, but luck wasn’t on their side, and their efforts ultimately came to nothing.
As a result, Namdhari FC remains at the top of the table with 24 points from 12 games, while Churchill Brothers, with 23 points, now trail by a single point.