Four-star Okolie destroys HAL

Churchill Brothers' captain Odafe Onyeka Okolie scored all his team's goals in a 4-1 demolition of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in the pre-quarter-finals of the Osian Durand Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi on Tuesday.

Okolie found the target in the 16th, 58th, 79th and 86th minutes while Bimal Minz accounted for HAL's goal in the 66th.

Okolie's fourth goal, a blistering volley from the right edge of the box, was just too good.

In another match, Central Railway got the better of Tata Football Academy 4-1 via the penalty shoot-out.

Soccor Velho gave Central Railway the lead in the 27th minute while Goutam Kujur responded for the academy in the 47th.

In the tie-breaker, Kasif Jamal, Arun E K, Nasir Jamal and Karim Sheikh found the target for the winners, while only S Naveen Kumar converted for TFA.

Substitute custodian Kunal Sawant, who replaced Raghuvir Khnolkar before the shoot-out, blocked Karan Atwal's shot while Rakesh Masih hit wide. Sheikh then put the finishing touches for Central Railway.

Churchill produced a dominating performance and were clearly superior as they made their way to the last eight.

The main rounds of the third oldest football competition in the world got off with fanfare and Churchill kept the large crowd in good spirits as they literally toyed with the HAL defence, which was virtually non-existent on several occasions.

The first period was one-way traffic with the Goan team piling on relentless pressure on the rival goal. The onslaught started as early as the third minute when Nigerian Okolie tested the 'keeper with a long-ranger.

The Bangalore team was largely pinned to their own half and Churchill 'keeper Vinay Singh was hardly tested.

Churchill Brothers took the lead when Reisangmi Vashim sent a centre from the right and Okolie beat a couple of defenders before slotting the ball home on the turn past HAL custodian Gumpe Rime (1-0).

Okolie almost single-handedly kept the opposition on the run and his free-kick from outside the area in the 25th minute was palmed away by the 'keeper with great difficulty.

Churchill could have won by an even bigger margin but the woodwork came to HAL's rescue on four occasions.

At the other end, HAL had a penalty claim turned down by referee Pratap when Sumit Thapa fell under the challenge of Robert Lathlamuan.

Churchill were awarded a penalty when Thapa brought down Okolie inside the box. The Nigerian coolly slotted home the resultant kick (2-0).

Incidentally, he had to convert the spot-kick twice as the referee voided the first when a player entered the box before the kick was taken.

Okolie kept his composure and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way.

HAL pulled a goal back against the run of play when Bimal Minz produced a solo run from outside the area before beating goalkeeper Vinay Singh.

It seemed that HAL had an outside chance of getting back into the match but Okolie had other ideas.

A chip over the top of the defensive line by Thokchom Naoba Singh found the Nigerian, who had broken the off-side trap, easily beating Rime (3-1).

But the best strike off the game came late on when Okolie latched on to a long through ball and hammered a powerful volley from outside the area (4-1).