Kalyani: Ranty Martins struck twice as United SC came back from behind to stun defending champions Churchill Brothers 3-2 in an eighth round I-League clash here Saturday.
Balwant Singh struck a double (25th and 47th minutes) to give Churchill a 2-0 lead but eight minutes later C K Vineeth pulled one back, while Martins came back to form after a prolonged lean patch by scoring back to back goals (78th and 88th) to seal a thrilling win.
Yet to win a match in this season's I-League, Churchill had more setback in store when Denzil Franco was sent off in the 89th minute after stamping Vineeth. With four wins from nine matches, United SC now have 15 points, while Churchill (three points) remained one notch above bottom-ranked Rangdajied United from eight outings.
Desperate to return to winning ways, United's Dutch coach Eelco Schattorie made a number of changes bringing in Ishan Debnath in place of an injured Sangram Mukherjee under the bar, while Belo Rasaq, Vineeth and Baldeep Singh too returned to the XI.
Having returned as Churchill Technical Director after the successful last season, Subhas Bhowmick, on the other hand, retained the same team that drew against Shillong Lajong FC. United SC had a positive start with Martins lurking on front and their appeal for a penalty was turned down in the 21st minute when Vineeth seemed to have been brought down by Arindam Bhattacharya.
In another match, Pune FC's unbeaten run came to an end as they lost 0-2 Sporting Clube de Goa in the seventh round of Airtel I-League match played at Duler Stadium.
After the barren first half, Clube, who dominated the game throughout, scored through Victorino Fernandes in the 50th and Pratemesh Shirodkar in the stoppage time.
The win takes Clube's tally to 13 points from seven matches. Pune FC, who suffered their first defeat, have 13 points from six matches.
Sporting Clube de Goa, eager to put themselves on the right track after losing to Mohammedan Sporting in the previous match, kept attacking the rival goal mostly from the right where Vitorino Fernandes looked dangerous and came close to finding the net twice in the first half.
In other match, Brazilian striker Uilliams Silva struck twice as Shillong Lajong FC edged past Mohammedan Sporting 2?1 to register their first win at home in a thrilling eight round encounter of the I-League.
Uilliams scored in the 30th minute through a penalty and then the match winner in the 75th minute while Josimar scored the lone goal for the visitors in the 39th minute.
Sporting's Ozbey and Josimar were far from being dangerous in the attacking front as the team were rendered under constant pressure from Uilliams and his partners -? Tuboi, Boithang and Subash Singh.
While Glen and Matsugae were out nursing their injuries, the home team pushed the level of the game to a higher level putting the visitors on constant pressure right from the first whistle was blown.
Five corner kicks within 20 minutes of the match added pressure on the Kolkata outfit even as Ashok Singh miraculously saved Subash Singh's right footer to put Sporting defense in disarray.
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