Churchill finish on level footing with JCT

Both JCT and Churchill Brothers would have been disappointed with the 1-1 draw that played out at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here simply because of the number of chances muffed.

Both JCT and Churchill Brothers would have been disappointed with the 1-1 draw that played out at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here simply because of the number of chances muffed. If previous edition highest goalscorer Okolie Odafa was guilty of repeatedly going off-target, JCT too bungled a few.

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Chuchill Brothers began confidently with Bineesh Balan and Chandam Singh making incursions into the final third.

However, JCT were much more cautious. They had a chance in the ninth minute when Balwant Singh was gifted the ball due to a mistimed back-header by Churchill defender Rowilson Rodrigues but the striker's shot was parried away.

JCT drew first blood with a swift counterattack initiated by an incisive through to Amandeep by Saran Singh. The right-side midfielder delivered a crisp cross to Balwant who headed it past a helpless Kumar.

Subramaniam brought on Charan Rai to reinforce the Churchill attack in the 41st minute in place of Chandam.

Nigerian Omalaja Kareem came close to scoring in the 48th minute off a grounded free-kick but the attempt was thwarted by Kumar.

Churchill could have pulled ahead in the 85th minute when Zakeer MP's pass found Odafa unmarked on the fringe of JCT's box. However, his thundering left-footer went wide.