Churchill hold East Bengal 2-2

Kolkata, Jan 29 (PTI) Kayne Vincent struck twice to helpChurchill Brothers hold East Bengal 2-2 in a thrilling Round12 I-League match at Yuba Bharati Krirangan here today.

In the battle between two title contenders, East Bengaldrew first blood through Sanju Pradhan in the 50th minutewhile Tolgay Ozbey struck the second in the 70th.

But Churchill Brothers rode on a double-effort byVincent, who struck in the 67th and 90+1 minutes, to make asuperb turnaround and return with one point.

Vincent was adjudged man-of-the-match.

Unbeaten so far, table leaders East Bengal now have 30points, while Churchill Brothers are on third place with 23points.

Leading goal scorer Odafa Okolie, down with a thighmuscle problem, did not play in the first half. ChurchillBrothers, bolstered by their national players -- GouramangiSingh and Steven Dias, did not give any chance to the homeside in the goalless first 45 minutes.

East Bengal were unlucky in the ninth minute when refereeP K Bose overlooked a handball inside the box leading to hugeuproar from the home crowd. East Bengal players led by coachTrevor James Morgan also protested.

The Goan heavyweights, who went down to East Bengal inthe Federation Cup semifinal, had their chance to go up in the17th minute but Kayne Vincent and Boima Karpeh messed up afine chance in the absence of Odafa.

Karpeh fired in directly at East Bengal goalkeeper SandipNandy while from the rebound Vincent could have scored easilybut it turned out to be no different much to the relief of thehome crowd.

With Gouramangi manning the Churchill defence and Diassetting it up in the mid-field region, East Bengal struggledto get it going. They strikers Tolgay Ozbey and Robin Singhstruggled to get possession of the ball upfront. .