VASCO: Gukulam Kerala withstood a second half fight back to outplay Churchill Brothers 2-1 in the I-League match played at Tilak Maidan, here, on Saturday.
The win is Gokulam Kerala’s sixth on the trot and put them within two points of leaders Mohammedan Sporting, albeit having played a game more.
The result stretched Churchill Brothers' winless streak to six and left them fourth from the bottom on the standings table.
Sourav’s through ball after drawing two Churchill Brothers defenders allowed Alex Sanchez the opportunity to shoot in the goal, from a tight angle in the 9th minute, to give the visitors the lead.
Soon, having picked up the ball from an innocuous pass 35 yards from the goal, Abhijith Kurungodan turned and took a shot at the goal, curling his shot brilliantly into the far top corner of the goal in the 19th minute.
The break did them some good, because minutes into the second half they had pulled one goal back. The goal was brought on purely by Gokulam Kerala’s inefficient defending in their own box though. Rather than letting an aimless cross from the right drift out, Vikas headed it straight back into the path of Faisal Ali, who slid a pass to Louis Ogana. Ogana passed the ball into the net in the 49th minute.
Later, Elhadji Karim Samb had a glorious opportunity to draw Churchill Brothers on level terms in the 78th minute. He rose highest to a long Alent Colaco’s free-kick, five yards from the goal but watched his effort bounce off the crossbar. It was the last meaningful chance either side would conjure, as Gokulam Kerala diligently saw the game off to seal the points.