Mohammed Rafi strike sinks Chirag Kerala

Churchill Brothers moved within a point of Dempo SC at the top of the table by registering an away win against Chirag United Kerala in the ninth round of I-League 2011-12 at Trivandrum. The Kerala side lost the match 2-1 after going ahead in the first half through an Anil Kumar header. The defeat puts Chirag United in a precarious position as the battle for survival heats up at the tail end of the table.

Usman Ashik had to be satisfied with a role in the bench for Chirag where as Charles Dzisah made a come back to the first team after serving a two match suspension. Churchill had an embarrassment of riches to choose from and coach Manuel Gomez chose to start with Opara Ndubuisi and Lalrindika Ralte upfront while resting Mohammed Rafi on the bench much to the disappointment of the home fans.

Chirag started the match brightly with Vineeth in the thick of action. A cross from Asif on the third minute found an unmarked Vineeth in the box who coolly slotted the ball in the goal only for the linesman to lift his flag for offside. They played with a high tempo and David Sunday had Felix D'Souza worried in the Churchill goal with a clean strike but the Cameroon forward's shot just evaded the left post.

Churchill Brothers hardly came into the picture with a Steven Dias long ranger being their best efffort in the first 30 minutes. Vineeth continued his good work taking on defenders and beating them at will and for a while Chirag threatened to run away with the match. Chirag went ahead deservingly on the 25th minute after the refree was forcced to give a freekick 10 yards outside the box for a foul on Vineeth. Asif deliverd a pinpoint cross from the resulting free kick for Anil to head home a lead, to the mass jubilation of the home fans.

They continued going forward in style and looked to have doubled the score on the half hour mark. After some scramble in the penalty box, Saleel slotted the ball home but the linesman came to Churchill's rescue by ruling the effort offside, much to the anger of the home fans. By this time Vineeth was running the show and an Ajayan through ball found him on goal and the youngster got the shot off first time and it skimmed past the upright. While at the other end the Chirag back line was looking solid and organised with Sharath showing good positive attitude by coming and collecting the crosses with confidence.

So it was against the run of play when Churchill equalized on the 45 minutes mark through ND Opara. It was the only movment when the chirag defence lost their comcentration as Sherin Sam lost his man and Henri Antchouet put a lovely through ball to ND Opara for the Nigerian to finsh the move in fine style.

Manuel Gomez reacted to Chirag's first half domination by making two changes. Mohammed Rafi came in for Henri Antchouet while Gouramangi was replaced by Antun Kovacic, and both the players had a telling impact on the game. Although the second half started much like the first half with Chirag having the lion share of the possession, Churchill slowly grew into the game with Rafi and ND Opara linking nicely upfront. At the back Antun Kovacic proved to be a rock as he was instrumental in keeping Vineeth and company quiet during the second half. The high tempo with which Chirag played began to take its toll as the players began to tire as the half wore on. Packeer Ali decided to freshen things up by bringing in Usman Ashik who is fast becoming a crowd favourite.

The youngster couldn’t fulfil the role of a supersub as he had done against Salgaocar, that role was left for Mohammed Rafi who scored to take Churchill 2-1 up in the 74th minute. The goal came from a set piece taken by Lalrindika which took a deflection off the Chirag defence and fell into the path of Rafi, who gleefully took his chance. It was desperation time for Chirag as they threw every one forward in search of an equalizer but the Goan defence showed no signs of faltering as they stood firm to eke out a hard fought victory.

Packeer Ali was disappointed with the result especially after witnessing the best performance from his team so far this season. He would have felt hard done by and would have expected at least a point from this fixture. Steven Dias was humble in victory and quoted "We are lucky to go away with a win and the two goals came as a result of set pieces. Chirag played extremely well and it was a tough match". It was a cruel day for the Chirag players as they yet again learnt the cost of not taking their chances.

Rohan Shah writes for FootballKerala.com

From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Thursday 15 December 2011, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.