Churchill Brothers defeated East Bengal 10-9 in sudden death to set up a meeting with Mahindra United in the semi-finals of the 27th Federation Cup football tournament, at Nehru stadium in Margao, Goa, on Sunday night.
With both the teams failing to break the deadlock in regulation and extra-time, tie-breaker was applied. But it also ended 4-4, with Mike Okoro, Liswa Nduti, Ajit Singh Bisht and Sydney Nkalanga scoring for East Bengal and Jotin Singh, Syed Hussain, Sony P T and Vanlalrova netting goals for the Goans.
In sudden death, Syed Nabi Rahim, Covan Lawerence, Suresh M, Saumik Dey and I M Vijayan scored for the Kolkata team while Ngozi Tony, Chitra Singh, Vinay Singh, Villroy D'Cruz, Amjad Hussain and Abba Muritala scored for Churchill.
Churchill Brothers now meet Mahindra United in the semi-finals, to be played on October 26.
Mahindra had beaten Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in an earlier match.
Dipankar Roy of East Bengal was shown the yellow card by referee S Suresh.
Churchill put up a brilliant show to snub off East Bengal's challenge. They played a fast, attacking game to unsettle the Kolkata giants' rhythm. Their midfield combined well with the upfront and had good support from the defence.
East Bengal striker Mike Okoro and Sydney were not given much space to operate by the Churchill defence, where Osumanu stood like a rock. And whenever they broke through the defence, keeper Vinay Singh did well.
East Bengal's best chance came in the 35th minute of the first half when Okoro sent a cross to Sydney but the latter's header went out narrowly.
In the second half, East Bengal coach Subhash Bhowmick introduced Malsawmtluanga in the midfield and their attack looked more threatening but the Churchill defence played their hearts out to thwart their moves.
With no result coming, frustration grew large on Bhowmick's face and he introduced his trump card Vijayan but this also did not yield results as the match ended goalless in regulation and extra- time.
