An Odafe Onyeka Okolie hat-trick powered Churchill Brothers to their second Durand Cup title.
The reigning I-League champions drubbed Mohun Bagan 3-1 in this the 122nd edition of the Durand Cup final played at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium today.
This is a second successive title for the Goan side at the start of the season, with the earlier one being the IFA Shield won less than two weeks back in Kolkata. Mohun Bagan once again failed to break their hoodoo against the Carlos Roberto Pereira da Silva coached side, and were beaten comprehensively.
Mohun Bagan did everything to start the game on a confident note but it's end that matters the most. The record was on stake for the sixteen times champions to surpass East Bengal to clinch their seventeenth title but they had the toughest hurdle to cross in the form of Churchill Brothers.
Churchill were unfortunate not be awarded two genuine penalties in the regulation time, and the match was to be decided in extra time. First it was an Odafe shot that hit Rakesh Masih's arms in the box in the 12th minute, while in the 83rd minute a Sangram foul on Ogba Kalu Nnanna was turned down by the central referee P.K. Bose for a spot kick, that left the Churchill Nigerians fuming.
After a goalless 90 minutes the extra time went into a high voltage drama. The first half of the extra time hardly grew old by five minutes, when Bagan went ahead with a brilliant set piece from the left. Subhojit Majumdar who came in for James Lukram Singh provided a top class free-kick from the left leaving Chidi Edeh to notch in his header from 2 yards. The Churchill defence was found napping and were punished because of their complacency on the set-piece.
Fortune swung however, and that too in a very dramatic way. Mohun Bagan was already dreaming of walking away with the Durand Cup trophies, but were brought down to earth when Odafe equalised in the 100th minute, silencing the Mohun Bagan camp. The talismanic striker picked a Vashum pass from the right, and albeit Micky Fernandes tried his best to hold the Nigerian striker, he was outclassed by Odafe's skills, and the sharpshoopter's right footer went in to the goal to the right of Mohun Bagan custodian Sangram Mukherjee.
Five minutes later, Odafe doubled Churchill’s lead when he headed in a close ranger after the Mohun Bagan defence failed to clear the ball. Vashum did all the hard work from the right, beat his marker and fired his shot in, which was cut off by Sangram but fell to Charan Rai whose shot was partly cleared by the Bagan defence. Then Odafe just needed to give the rebound a direction into the open net.
Mohun Bagan was hapless and almost broken by the stupendous Churchill reply, and conceded the third goal just five minutes into the second half of the extra time as Odafe registered his name in Durand Cup history as being the only striker to score a hat-trick in the final (at the Ambedkar Stadium) of the third oldest tournament of the world.
Mohun Bagan were not only stunned but were dejected once again. This is their second successive final defeat at the hands of Churchill Brothers' young guns, while on the other hand it was once again a team effort by Churchill Brothers, which they have proved time and again is why they are the best team in India in recent times.
Match Stats
Churchill Brothers SC 3-1 Mohun Bagan AC
Goals: 0-1 Chidi Edeh (95'), 1-1, 2-1, 3-1 Odafe Onyeka Okolie (100', 105', 110’)
Source: Indianfootball.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Wednesday 23 September 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.