KALYANI (West Bengal): Nigerian forward Kenneth Ngwoke struck a brace as Churchill Brothers returned to winning ways with a 3-1 win over bottom-placed NEROCA FC in an I-League match on Monday.
Guinean recruit Momo Cisse (36th) opened the scoring with a beautiful freekick and four minutes later Ngwoke doubled the lead for Churchill.
In the second-half, Ngwoke completed his brace in the 77th minute, while an own goal by Vickey Meitei (90+1') reduced the deficit for NEROCA FC in the stoppage time.
Churchill now have 20 points from 17 matches to be in third spot, behind league leaders and defending champions Gokulam Kerala (40) and Mohammedan Sporting (34).
This was a third successive defeat for NEROCA FC as they remained rooted to the bottom of the standings with one point from five matches. They also extended their winless streak to eight games.
Churchill Brothers' nine-match unbeaten streak was halted by Mohammedan Sporting in their last match when the local giants defeated the Goans 2-0 in a match in which their Tajikistani striker Komron Tursunov was red-carded.
NEROCA probed forward on multiple occasions as Churchill broke on the counter with Gnohere Krizo.
The Ivorian nutmegged Ben Nash before he was brought down on the edge of the box by James Singh, who was tracking back at full speed.
Cisse stood over the ball and was also involved in a small fight with Olen Singh.
The incident did not distract the Senegalese as he smashed the freekick home to give Churchill the lead.
Churchill added another goal to their tally when Quan Gomes' delivery from the corner came to Richard Costa.
Costa's effort was blocked on the line by Davis Kamanga and the rebound went directly to Ngwoke who slotted it past the keeper.
Two minutes from half-time, Sergio Mendigutxia could have pulled one back but the Spaniard's header was saved superbly by Nora Fernandes.
After the interval, NEROCA came out on the front-foot.
A minute into the half, Mendigutxia tried to squeeze the ball into the goal with a side-footed shot that was saved comfortably by Nora again.
Minutes later, Ngwoke fouled Kamanga as NEROCA were awarded a freekick in a good position.
Kamanga struck it beautifully as the ball curled and dipped but only to bounce off the crossbar and went out .
Substitute Bryce Miranda played the striker on goal as Olen Singh's lunge pushed the ball onto the foot of Ngwoke and it rolled past the keeper into the back of the net.
