SANA’A: A goal in each half steered India’s champion club Churchill Brothers to a 2-1 away win against Yemen’s Al Hilal in their second Group B match of this year’s AFC Cup at Ali Mohsin Al Muraisi Stadium, here on Wednesday.
Nigerian striker Okolie Inyeka Odafa gave Churchill Brothers the lead after 15 minutes before Yaser Basuhai levelled after 37 minutes after Burhanu Kasim had missed a penalty but Felix Chimaokwu scored the winner for the visitors in the 55th minute.
With the win today, Churchill now tops Group B with four points from two matches, having drawn their opening match 2-2 at home against defending champions Kuwait Sports Club.
The Goan side now have a strong chance to qualify for the knock out round of 16 from their group.
After the costly miss from the spot by Al Hilal, Odafe gave his side the lead in the 15th minute before the home side restored parity in the 37th minute.
Felix found the back of Al Hilal net a few minutes before the hour mark which turned out to be the match winner.
Churchill play their next match at home against the same side on April 6.
Meanwhile, East Bengal fought tooth and nail but still could not avert their third consecutive AFC Cup defeat and went down 2-3 to Al Qadsia of Kuwait in their home leg encounter at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan (YBK) on Wednesday.
Bader Al-Motawaa scored twice in the second and 84th minutes, while Jehal Al-Hossain scored in the 19th minute in the Kuwait outfit’s first win that helped them climb to the top of Group D with three points from the match.
East Bengal showed some fighting spirit and reduced the margin through Subhash Singh (19th) and Yusif Yakubu (68th) but that was not enough to upstage the visitors.
East Bengal thus had an 11-match winless streak in the I-League and AFC Cup under the Belgian coach Philippe de Ridder, whose contract with the red-and-gold brigade is unlikely to be renewed.
The Kuwait side began the proceedings in outstanding fashion with Bader providing them the early lead.
It was Al-Hossain whose powerful shot was deflected by East Bengal goalkeeper Priyant Singh, playing in place of regular Abhra Mondal.
But Bader had placed himself at a vantage spot to strike home the rebound to give Al Qadsia a second minute lead.
Playing 4-4-2, Al Qadsia kept on attacking and were foiled by Priyant in the seventh minute.
But the custodian’s inexperience was exposed in the 19th minute when he was out of his position as Al-Hossain chipped over him to make it 2-0.
Five minutes later, a misunderstanding between an Al Qadsia defender and goalkeeper Ali Al-Rasheed resulted in a goal for East Bengal who reduced the margin through Subhas.
A Mehtab Hossain pass from the right was capitalised by Subhas who headed into the open net as the Kuwaitis misread the move.
In the 29th minute, Priyant effected a diving save to thwart a powerful Bader right-footer.
East Bengal had an opportunity in the 38th minute to equalise but Yusif Yakubu, from a cross off Beingaichho Beiokhokhei, could only hit the post as the local team went into the breather 1-2 down.
Just after the changeover, captain Syed Rahim Nabi had only goalkeeper to beat but muffed one of the easiest opportunities.
They found the equaliser in the 68th minute through Yakubu when a Sanju Pradhan’s brilliant lob was utilised inside the box by the Ghanaian striker.
Al-Rasheed came out to collect but missed the flight as Yakubu’s header found the mark to level matters.
Just six minutes before the final whistle, Bader scored with an angular shot to complete the scoreline. East Bengal had earlier lost to Al Ittihad (Syria) 1-4 and Al Nejmeh (Lebanon) 0-3 in their AFC Cup ties to languish at the bottom of Group-D without any point. Al Qadsia have five points from three outings to
head the table.
