Dempo beat Churchill Bros; meet Mahindra in semis

Ludhiana, Sept 10 (UNI) Playing a mature game, Dempo Sports Club ended the challenge of Churchill Brothers by 2-0 in an all-Goa affairs in the last quarter-final match of the 29th Hero Cycles Federation Cup Football Tournament being played at the floodlit Guru Nanak Stadium here tonight.

Dempo Club will now cross swords with Mahindra United in the second semi-final to be played on September 12. It will be an all-Kolkata affairs in the first semi-final on tomorrow when defending champions Mohun Bagan lock horns with East Bengal at 7 p.m.

Churchill tested Dempo goalkeeper Abhijit Mondal in the fifth minute of the match. However Raju's freekick went into the waiting hands of Mondal. Churchill Brothers were reduced to 10-man squad in the 17th minute with goalkeeper Vinay Singh getting red card. Lalit Thapa replaced D Raju in the 18th minute and guarded Churchill Brothers goal. Thapa made a spectacular save by fisting out a spot kick taken by Chidi Edeh Dempo Sports Club.

Dempo Sports Club were one up in the 14th minute through Ranty Martins Soleye's fine goal with a header.

Three minutes later Churchill Brother suffered a setback as their goalkeeper Vinay Singh was shown a red card for handling the ball outside the dee.

Dempo Sports Club were awarded a spot kick in the 32nd minute.

Churchill Brother's defender Vinu Jose tripped Chidi Edeh inside the proscribed area. However, young Lalit Thapa made an acrobatic save as he dived full length to his left and fisted the ball out.

Dempo Sports Club scored their second goal in the 37th minute.

Clifford Miranda floated a cross from the left and well-positioned Chidi Edeh headed it smartly from the middle. Thereafter, Churchill Brothers had to abortive attempts to score. Odafe Onyeka Okolie shot over the bar in the 38th minute. Odafe again wasted a chance in the 43rd minute. After getting the better of Dempo defender Mahesh Gawil, Odafe's powerful shot from the right lacked proper direction as the ball went wide.

On resumptions, Dempo continued to had an upper hand against a 10-man Churchill Brothers. Two good moves were witnessed in this sesssion, In the 80th minute, Robert Lalthamla sent the corner kick in the middle but alert Abhijit Mondal collected it before any damage could be done.

Just one minute before end, Chidi Edeh moved up and passed the ball to substitute Peter Carvalho who failed to get to the ball.

Teams: Dempo SC: Abhijit Mondal, Valeriano Rebello, John Charles Dias, Mahesh Gawil, Sameer Naik, Jerry Zirsanga (73rd, Peter Carvalho), Climax Lawrence, Roberto Mendes Silva, Clifford Miranda (77th, Nicolau Berges), Ranty Martins Soleye, Chidi Edeh.

Churchill Brothers: Vinay Singh, Thokchom Naoba Singh, Gouramangi M Singh, Vinu Jose (39th, N Gobind Singh) , Robert Lalthamla, Chitrasen Chandam Singh, Mashangva Genius Zenith, D Raju (18th, Lalit Thapa), Khemtang, Odafe Onyeka Okolie and Stephen N Mbanyam.

Referee: Rizwan ul Haq (Delhi).

Assistant Referees: Shaji Kurian (Kerala) and T Pradeep Kumar (Tamil Nadu).

Red card Vinay Singh (Churchill Bros, 17th).

Yellow: Vinu Jose (32nd) and Odafe Onyeka Okolie (87th, both Churchill Bros).

Tomorrow's fixture (semi-final). East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan (7 p.m.) at Guru Nanak Stadium.

UNI