Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Goa: Indian champions Churchill Brothers eased past Maldivian champions New Radiant 3-0 in a Group E of the AFC Cup on Tuesday at Nehru Stadium.
Costa Rican forward Cristhian Lagos bagged a brace while Anthony Wolfe, who represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, was also on target as the Red Machine cruised to their first victory of the campaign
“It was important to get this victory and it will surely give us confidence both for the remaining AFC Cup matches and to improve our position in the domestic league,” said Churchill Brothers head coach Mariano Dias.
Having lost 2-0 away at Indonesia’s Persipura Jayapura on Matchday One, Churchill Brothers were determined to make a good start and could have taken the lead inside the first three minutes when Lagos’ free header narrowly missed the target.
New Radiant struggled to get going in the early stages but Ali Fasir wasted a good opportunity when he failed to work Churchill Brothers custodian Arindam Bhattacharya despite being found free inside the box after a Mukhtar Naseer cross.
That was the only chance the visitors created in first half as the Indian champions started to dominate proceedings with Wolfe and Lagos going close.
And Churchill Brothers finally took the lead in the 31st minute when Wolfe chested down Satish Singh’s cross for Lagos, who slotted the ball past Imran Mohammed to score his first-ever goal for the Goan outfit.
It was all Churchill Brothers for the remainder of the first half as New Radiant could not retain possession for long with Lagos, Wolfe and Egyptian Abdelhamid Shabana all wasting good opportunities as the Indian outfit failed to make the most of their dominance.
The home team started the second half strongly and scored just eight minutes after the restart when Wolfe capitalised on some poor defending by finding the back of the net with a powerful strike.
New Radiant just were unable to find a response and were struggling to stay in the game as Churchill Brothers threatened to score the third with Shabana and Anthony Pereira nearly getting on the scoresheet.
The Maldivian club started to see the ball a bit more after the hour mark but Lagos killed the game off in the 75th minute as the 29-year-old scored from a rebound after Imran had saved Shabana’s initial effort.
New Radiant never looked like getting a consolation and were lucky not to concede further as Jaison Vales hit the post while Wolfe could only attempt a weak shot from close range towards the end.
“We experienced fatigue as we have done a lot of travelling and we were also missing our Ghanaian defender (Jonathan Quartey),” said New Radiant caretaker coach Ismail Anil.
“Our play improved slightly in the second half but it was too late.”