Rajasthan United defeated Churchill Brothers 2-0 to register their second win of the Hero I-League 2021-22 at the Naihati stadium here on Monday.
Churchill Brothers came into the match on the back of their first victory of the season having shocked high-flying Mohammedan Sporting, but weren’t able to translate their form into this game.
The game began with both sides looking to assert dominance in the middle of the park. Rajasthan United slowly started controlling the play and displayed composure on the ball.
The patience of Rajasthan players on the ball started paying off as they got the first corner of the game in the 16th minute. Pritam Singh put a good cross down the right but eventually was blocked by the Churchill Brothers defenders.
Rajasthan had a big chance to score in the 24th minute but a left-footed shot from Alocious was saved by Shilton Paul. From their second corner, Aloicious nutmegged Gogou to create a shot but the power was not enough to beat Shilton.
Rajasthan United was dominating the play and was all over Churchill Brothers when the referee signaled for the cooling break. The break worked really well for Rajasthan as they scored in the 34th minute just after play resumed. Wide forward Alocious tapped in the first goal from Pedro Manzi’s shot across the line who was sent through by a wonderful ball by 17-year-old Gyamar Nikum to make it 1-0.
Alocious doubled the lead and his goal tally for the game in the 38th minute as a quick free-kick by Manzi split open up the Churchill defense. Pritam Singh floated a good ball in from the right-hand side as Alocious tapped it in again.
Churchill Brothers started the second half with great intent as they looked to cut the deficit early on. They started pilling up the pressure and looked for penetration in the attacking third. Their big chance came in the 60th minute as Bhaskar Roy made a fantastic save to deny Kenneth Ikechukwu a goal.
Churchill Brothers were looking to create chances, but there was a lack of creativity in the final third as they weren’t able to transition from their midfield possession. In order to change things up, Churchill also made two substitutions around the 80th-minute mark as Afdal Varikkodan and Vinil Poojary came on.
Pedro Manzi had a great chance to score the third goal for Rajasthan United in the 86th minute as he made a brilliant individual run, had a one-two with Aman Thapa but the Spanish forward was unable to finish it past the onrushing goalkeeper.
Churchill had a late chance, six minutes deep into stoppage time to get a consolation goal but Momo Cisse’s free header went over the bar.
