Mapusa (Goa): Churchill Brothers' hopes of taking a comfortable lead at the top of table received a setback as they were held to a goal-less draw by Salgaocar in the 22nd round of the I-League at Duler stadium on Wednesday. Churchill, who drew their match for the second time in a row, took their tally to 44 points from 21 matches, three points ahead of second place East Bengal, while Salgaocar's tally stood at 24 points from 22 matches.
Churchill made their intentions clear in the barren first half. Though they dominated the session in the middle but failed to get past the rival defence though they got a few clear chances to score. Sunil Chhetri, who failed to impress in previous matches as well, continued with his bad form as he failed to convert a good pass into goal by shooting off the target.
Bineesh Balan, who gave a good account upfront, also had a chance, but failed to beat keeper Karanjit Singh under the bar. Salgaocar, who made their moves mostly from the flanks, saw Randeep Singh coming close to scoring midway into the first half with a header by Francis Fernandes going off the target narrowly off a cross from Gabriel Obatola. The trend continued in the second half also with Churchill, despite having an upper hand, failed to create any impact at the rival goal.
Salgaocar created more scoring opportunities, but Gabriel Obatola was denied on a couple of occasions by rival keeper Sandip Nandy who made good saves to get the man of the match award. Salgaocar's best chance came in the 78th minute but Augustin Fernandes' header struck the post to deny them full points.
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