Dempo Sports Club took a giant step towards winning the football I-League title after making short work of Churchill Brothers 4-1 in an entertaining 10th round encounter, at Nehru Stadium here on Thursday.
Dempo's win over their city rivals opened up a five-point gap at the top as second-placed JCT lost 1-3 to Mahindra United, away in Mumbai. Dempo now have 24 points from 10 matches while Churchill have lost out a big opportunity of joining the title race as they only have 17 points.
Edeh Chidi gave Dempo the lead in the 44th minute, but they pounded Churchill in the second session with goals from Ranty Martins (66th), man of the match Anthony Pereira (68th) and Joaquim Abaranches (90+2).
Though Mboyo Iyomi reduced the margin for Churchill in the 86th minute, it was too little, too late.
Armando Colaco's side produced vintage football as high-flying Churchill Bros were caught napping for the second time in the I-League.
Mahindras win
Riding on a brace from man of the match Andrew Mensah Pomeyie (10th, & 65th), Mahindra United defeated JCT 3-1, adds Agencies from Mumbai.
Douhou Pierre (87th) scored the other goal for the winners , while Eduardo Escober (7th) scored the lone goal for JCT.
Viva prevail
In the other match, Viva Kerala defeated Air India 3-2, adds Agencies from Kozhikode. Viva opened their account in the 55th minute, through Wisdom Abbey. But Air India found parity through Nigerian Bashiru M Abbas five minutes later.
Viva went into the lead in the 65th minute through Khelemba Singh. Within two minutes, Air India again came back into the game through S Musah. But Abbey did the trick for Viva just five minutes from the  end.