Churchill Brothers Sports Club raced to the top of the I-League ladder with a 3-0 demolition of Air India at the Duler Stadium on Tuesday.

Brazilian midfielder Roberto Mendes da Silva opened the scoring with a penalty in the seventh minute and then Gabonese striker Henri Arnaud scored once in each session to take Churchill Brothers to the top of the table with 42 points, two ahead of East Bengal. Churchill still have a match in hand.

Churchill got off to an encouraging start when Steven Dias won a penalty in the seventh minute. Bineesh Balan’s wonderful ball in the danger zone was well received by Dias, but he tumbled in the zone after coming into contact with Air India defender M Pradeep, prompting the referee to point at the stop. Roberto scored the penalty with ease.

Churchill got their second in the 22nd minute when Lenny Rodrigues sent a delightful through ball that pierced the rival defence and was intercepted well by Henri who drew out the goalkeeper and scored another easy goal.

In the second session, Churchill scored their third goal through Henri, and it was another gift from Air India goalkeeper Sukhvinder Singh.
Churchill next play ONGC in Delhi and have a chance to open up a five-point gap at the top of the table.