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Mahindra United staged a grand rally after being a goal in arrears to rout Churchill Brothers 4-1 and enter the final of the Federation Cup football tournament.
The star of their impressive victory at the Nehru stadium in Margao, Goa, on Wednesday, was none other than their Brazilian import, Jose Barretto, who scored twice to swell his goal tally in the tournament to four and get in contention for the top scorer's award.
But Barretto's goals would not have materialized had medio Steven Dias not provided precise crosses from the right. The gangling midfielder, who laid the ground for three of the goals, proved a handful for the Churchill defence as he repeatedly tore down the right flank and floated the ball into the box. Those crosses had the Goan team's defence in sixes and sevens and they should consider themselves lucky not to lose by a tennis scoreline.
Churchill took an early lead in the 19th minute following a free-kick from Osmanu Husseni. Tony Ngozi capitalized on a misunderstanding in the Mahindra defence as goalkeeper Sandip Nandy charged out and drove to the far corner of the net.
But that goal was the catalyst the Mumbai champions needed to produced their best. Within seven minutes they restored parity from a 40-yard shot from the right by Surkumar Singh, the ball going off a defender and bulging the net.
From then on it was Mahindra all the way till the breather, though without further success, with Barretto being denied by the crossbar following a long range shot and then goalkeeper Vinay Singh fisting away a shot from him.
But there was nothing Churchill could do in the second session to stop the Brazilian as Mahindra stepped up the pace. With clever promptings from a well-organised midfield, where Dias was brilliant, the Churchill citadel was always under pressure. Dias repeatedly ran down the right flank and floated the ball into the box. In the 53rd minute Barretto timed his run well to meet Dias' cross and slot home to put Mahindra ahead.
The celebrations on the Mahindra bench had hardly ended when, within a minute, Barretto got in the right place and at the right time to connect home another fine cross from Dias.
That goal took the game away from the Goa side. Barretto could have completed a hat-trick but he chose to pass the ball when ideally placed in front of goal.
Two minutes from the final whistle substitute Abhishek Yadav completed the rout with a header following another cross from Dias.