Daunting task for Salgaocar against Churchill tomorrow

Margao, Jan 18 (UNI) Bottom placed former champions Salgaocar Sports club will have a tough task when they take on Durand Cup Champion Churchill Brothers in their 12th round ONGC I-League Championship match to be played here at Nehru stadium Fatorda tomorrow.

Formidable Churchill who routed Salgaocar by 5-1 in the first leg round looked impressive in their performance so far and all eyes will be on their ace Nigerian striker Odafe Okolie who is the highest goal scorer in the Championship so far with 16 goals including three hat-tricks in his name. Other helping in the forward line is Mboyo Iyomi who has seven goals to his credit.

Both have given the opponents harrowing time in the earlier outings.

Churchill presently placed third in the league table with 20 points below table toppers Dempo with 27 points, followed by JCT second with 22 points from eleven outings each.

On the other hand, far from impressive Salgaocar had not tasted a single win out of the 11 matches so far and are desperately in need of wins and points to avoid relegation as they are precariously place with only five points from five drawn matches and six defeat.

Churchill is well knit team in all the departments their mid field too looks very competent with Zenith Genius, Ogbakalu Nanna, Khenthang Paite and Raisangmi Vasum all have played important role as medios.

The defence is marshalled by Robert Lalthamala, Rowilson Rodrigues, Naoba Singh and Gouramangi Singh. The goal-keeper Vinay Singh has proved a hard nut to crack.

The assessment is spot on as saguaro fortunes in the tournament have mainly revolved around Felix Chimawkou, who has six goals in his name including hat-trick, Milagres Gonslaves, Rochus Lamare and S Malswama to deliver the goods.

Churchill Coach Karim Bencharifa is looking confident of their win against Salgaocar tomorrow and looking to exploit opponent weak link in the defence. As his team is the race for the title his boys will certainly go for a win. His team also holds the psychological edge over Salgaocar as they had scored 5-1 win in their first leg, the coach added.

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