PUNE, Nov 4: As Roberto Silva converted the penalty in the added time of the second half, there was major heartbreak in the Pune FC camp. In a keenly fought match, which actually none of the teams deserved to lose, this penalty was an anti-climax.

However, for the record books, Churchill Brothers defeated Pune FC 1-0, in the Round IV match of the I-League Football Championship, here, on Sunday (November 4).

But what goes beyond the score-line is the home team’s resilience. Pune FC were down to ten men just before the half-time when Caitano Costa was sent off for a nasty foul on Akram Moghrabi. However, their fight in the second half deserves kudos.

Pune suffered their second straight loss after having lost to East Bengal in a away tie last Monday (October 29).

The win pushed Churchill Brothers to 9 points from four matches and to the second spot in the league table, while Pune FC remained on 6.

The match clearly belonged to Pune FC, but they squandered the chances that came their way. In the 82nd minute, James Moga missed a sitter when he was found in the clear inside the box by Douhou Pierre. Moga did well to hold on to the ball, but couldn’t beat Churchill keeper Sandip Nandi.

With only four minutes remaining in the game, Moga set up Douhou on the right. The Ivorian midfielder moved past a defender to slide in a cross to Daisuke Nishiguchi inside the box, but Denzil Franco came in for a timely interception.

That would have settled the match, but for an over-aggressive Gurjinder Singh who brought down Henry Antchouet in the first minute of the injury time. The referee showed his finger to the spot that saw a number of Pune FC players arguing with him.

Roberto Silva was handed the task of taking the penalty and he made no mistakes in putting the ball past Pune FC goalkeeper Shahinlal Meloly.

Earlier, the match began with Meloly taking a knock while saving a challenge in the second minute of the game. 

Silva was the most dangerous player for the Churchill Brothers and created quite a few chances for himself.

In the 32nd minute Karma Tsewang cleared an attempt from Silva who had capitalized on a slip up from Srikanth Ramu of Pune FC.

Daisuke dispossessed Beto and went on a counter before sliding the ball to Moga on the left. Moga sent a cross inside the box to Daisuke, who was on the run, but Moga’s shot was little high for Daisuke to collect.