Mike Okoro got marching orders in Margao on Sunday

Margao: Santa Singh’s 75th minute goal helped Churchill Brothers beat champions East Bengal in a National Football League match on Sunday.

Churchill thus ended their campaign with 36 points from 22 matches and ensured the fourth place in final standings. East Bengal, with 46 from 21, have already sealed the title and will play their last match against Haywards Sporting on Wednesday.

Churchill enjoyed more of ball possession and forced more scoring chances against a depleted East Bengal team. They scored the all-important goal when Rajesh Meetei’s pass found Santa, who beat goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee with an angular shot to the far post.

East Bengal’s Nigerian star Mike Okoro was shown the red card in the dying minutes of the first half by referee K. Sankar for using abusive language. Churchill made this numerical advantage count but one goal was all they could score.

Yusif Yakubu, the leading scorer so far, got two easy chances but saw one effort coming off the crossbar, while Sasthi Duley made a goalline save on the other occasion.

East Bengal were without several leading players including Bhaichung Bhutia, Surkumar Singh, Douglas da Silva, Alvito D’Cunha and Subhas Chakraborty.

The main motivation for East Bengal in this match was to move closer to the tally of 49 points — a National Football League record they set last year. As things stand now, they will not be able to surpass that figure but can touch it if they win their last match.

With the fate of the title sealed, there is some interest still left in the marathon league and that is the race for the highest scorer’s prize.

Yakubu leads the chart with 14 goals, followed by Cristiano Junior (East Bengal) and Dudu Omagbemi (Haywards), who have 13 each. Bhutia is on 12 and the last match will present these players a last chance to overtake Yakubu.

Yakubu, the Ghanaian striker, topped the scorers’ list in the previous two editions of the National League.