Mahindra, Churchill settle for 2-2 draw

Mahindra United of Mumbai and Churchill Brothers of Goa kept their hopes alive for a semi-final berth when they settled for a 2-2 draw in their league match in group B of the 30th Federation Cup at Vidyasagar stadium in Barasat on Monday evening.

Both the teams have so far earned four points from two matches though the Mumbai outfit is having a better goal average.

The Mumbai team combined well and displayed better passing than their rivals, who preferred to play with long passes which failed to create much danger on the rival fort most of the time.

Mahindra forged into the lead in the 12th minute when Nigerian striker Edeh Chidi, collecting the ball in the rival area, passed the ball to compatriot Sushil Kumar singh who placed it home over the Churchill keeper.

Stung by the reverse, Churchill forced an all out attack and their striker Odafe Okolie gave a backpass to onrushing Dinesh Balan who shot home to bring the equaliser.

Inspired with the leveller, Churchill kept up their pressure and came near scoring again around the midway of first half but Mahindra custodian Subhashish Roy Chowdhury brought up a nice save.

After surviving two Mumbai raids in a couple minutes, Churchill went into attack a minute before the half time and forged ahead through a penalty, which was awarded when Sushant Mathew tripped a goal-bound Odafa inside the box. 

Odafa neatly converted the spot kick to take the lead 2-1 which was, however, short-lived as Steven Dias drew level 2-2 soon.