Iyomi Mboyo (left) and Okolie Odafe at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Churchill Brothers moved up to second spot in the ONGC I-League beating a 10-man East Bengal 1-0 in their Round XVI match at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday.

Mboyo Iyomi scored the all important goal in the 76th minute, helping his team breath down leaders Dempo’s neck and sending East Bengal’s fight against relegation back into a tailspin.

Churchill are now on equal footing with Dempo with 32 points but the latter still top the 10-team table by dint of a better goal difference. East Bengal remained rooted in the eighth place with 15 points, ahead of Viva Kerala (12) and Salgaocar (10). Two teams will be relegated.

East Bengal’s hopes in the match were seriously dented inside the first half-an-hour when midfielder Jayanta Sen received the marching orders from referee A. Arjunan for a dangerous tackle on Naoba Singh in the 28th minute. With a man short, Manoranjan Bhattacharjee’s side first had to readjust themselves to the changed scenario, then struggled to win the midfield battle and, eventually, found wanting in containing the opponents on the break.

That East Bengal goalkeeper Subrata Paul was adjudged the Man of the Match spoke volumes of the pressure the home team’s defence had to withstand during the match.

It all began on a positive note for East Bengal. There were no Edmilson Marques and Asim Biswas in the attacking line-up, but Manoranjan made his team’s intention clear with a series of attacks in the beginning. Syed Rahim Nabi was back in the striker’s role and threatened to test the rivals with support from behind.

The Churchill defence, however, held firm, and after Jayanta’s exit, had a relatively peaceful job. Churchill, like a team on an away challenge, relied on counter-attacks. Mboyo Iyomi and Okolie Odafe started exploring the East Bengal backline as the home team retreated, swapping their intention for a win with the draw.

Soon after the break, Odafe’s right-footed attempt went over and he failed to capitalise on a Mboyo pass from the right.

Making the situation graver for East Bengal, Alvito D’Cunha left the field having suffered a hand injury. He was replaced by Chandan Das.

East Bengal’s worst fear came true 14 minutes from the time when Mboyo headed a centre from Naoba into the goal.

The hosts had a chance to equalise after three minutes, but Chandan’s back-volley missed the target.

TEAMS

Churchill Brothers: Vinay Singh, Mboyo Iyomi, Okolie Odafe, Govin Mojranginem, Thockchom Naoba Singh, Reisangmi Vashum (Zenith Genius 45, Thangjam Saran Singh 90’), Chandam Singh, Durai Raju, Roberto Lalthlamuana, Gouramangi Moirangthem, Ogba Kalu Nnanna.

East Bengal: Subrata Paul, M. J. Owino, Debabrata Roy, Jayanta Sen. Alvito D’Cunha (Chandan Das 59, Dipendu Biswas 90), Anupam Sarkar, Syed Rahim Nabi, Mehtab Hossain, Meherajuddin Wadao, Surkumar Singh, Snehasish Chakraborty (Vanlal Rova 71).

Referee: A. Arjunan.

Man of the Match: Subrata Paul.