Churchill Brothers beat Mohun Bagan 2-0 to win the 114th edition of the IFA Shield.
In football, half of the match is played in the stands and the other half is played amongst the 22 players on the field. If it was just about the supporters, Mohun Bagan would have come out as easy victors in the 114th IFA Shield final against Churchill Brothers at Salt lake Stadium on Saturday.
The home side, however, lost the other half of the contest, as the visiting side outplayed them at the crucial moments to win 2-0.
With the skipper Odafe Onyeka Okolie back to wreck havoc, Churchill beat Bagan through the goals from Reisangmi Vashum and Odafe himself, to clinch their first-ever title in the heartland of football.
Expectedly, the match started on the top note, with both the sides declaring their intentions right from the word go.
In as early as the second minute, Bagan registered their presence in the rival area. Lukram James Singh made good of the chaos in the 81-yard box and took a quick left-footed shot at the goal but as luck would have it, the ball banged on the right post and flew out.
Four minutes later, Churchill returned the favour when Thokchum Noiba Singh played an accurate cross in the box from the 35 yards centre. A rushing Kanthang Paite had got himself in the right spot but he just could not get his head to the ball.
Egged on by their supporters, Bagan kept taking shots at rival goalkeeper Arindam Bhattachraya's territory. Churchill also made regular raids into Shilton Paul's area.
The Goan side's Nascimiento Silveira became the first one to be cautioned during the high-octane contest. He was booked in the 35th minute for bringing down Suroj Mondal.
Following a few attempts by Suroj to get the lead for the Kolkatan biggies, Churchill brought the stadium to a halt in the 41st minute.
From the 45 yards right, Khantang played a rising pass to skipper Odafe at the centre of the 18-yard box. Odafe, marked by two defenders, controlled the ball at his chest, turned around and quickly passed it to Vashum on the right. Vashum wasted no moment in shooting the ball past a hapless Shilton.
Odafe brilliance was to the fore again six minutes later. Getting the ball at the centre midfield, the Nigerian striker dashed towards the Churchill goal-area, leaving their defence in the catch-up job. As Shilton came out charging to ward off any danger, Odafe dodged him and shot the ball into an open goal.
Bagan started the next 45 minutes on a very resolute note. They got their first worthy chance in the 59th minute. After a few hits and miss-hits in the Churchill area, the ball fell to Surkumar Singh. The India defender took a sturdy shot at the goal but the ball crashed onto the horizontal bar.
Just two minutes later, Arindam's blunder almost reduced his side's lead. Bagan's Rakesh Masih lobbed to James in the area. Arindam rushed out of the six-yard box, but James kept the control on the ball and headed it to the right side. But before James could take an aim, Gourmangi Singh cleared the ball to safety.
Bagan again proved to be unfortunate four minutes later. Snehasish Chakraborty, from the left edge of the area, played it to Marcos Alexandro Pereira in front of an open goal. But Marcos' shot agonizingly went past the left post.
Though, Bagan tried their utmost for the rest of the time to get back into the contention, the luck eluded them as Churchill kept a close guard of their lead to cruise to victory.
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