Churchill crash out meekly

Pune register 3-1 win over Mohun Bagan in I-League

 Churchill Brothers on Wednesday suffered a 0-4 thrashing at the hands of Kitchee Club to crash out of the AFC Cup football tournament here.

Pablo Counago scored twice (14th, 17th minutes) while Jordi Tarres (57th) and Cheng Siu Wai (80th) struck once each for the Hong Kong team in their penultimate Group E match at the Balewadi Sports Complex which is being used by Churchill as their home venue.

After Wednesday’s defeat, Churchill are now on four points from five matches and they are out of reckoning for a last-16 knockout berth.

Counago opened the scoring for Kitchee with his first goal of the campaign in the 14 minute.

And just three minutes later, the Spanish striker doubled Kitchee’s lead to put the visitors into a commanding position.

Kitchee came close to scoring a third two minutes from half-time but Cheung Kin Fung’s strike crashed into the crossbar.

Henri Antchouet finally created a chance of note for Churchill Brothers six minutes into the second half, but the Gabonese striker was denied by Kitchee goalkeeper Wang Zhenpeng.

And six minutes later, Tarres added a third for the visitors as the Spaniard extended his record of scoring in every game during the AFC Cup campaign.

Pune rise to second

Pune FC climbed past East Bengal to occupy the second position in the I-League standings after posting a comfortable 3-1 victory over Mohun Bagan in their return-leg fixture at the Kalyani Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday.

The win took Pune (46 points) to five points behind Churchill Brothers who require one point from two matches to clinch the title for the second time.

Mohun Bagan (19) remained at 12th place as they still need three points from three matches to avoid relegation.

It was Mohun Bagan’s second straight loss as the side looked disjointed while ace forward Odafa Okolie struggled to find the target.

Douhou Pierre put Pune ahead with a brilliant goal in the 27th minute.
Mohun Bagan tried their best to come back but the dogged Pune FC backline, led by Chika Wali, thwarted all their efforts, while James Moga doubled the lead in the 68th minute.