Churchill Brothers clinched the top spot in the first phase of the I-League, downing 10-man Gokulam Kerala FC 3-2 in the final round match at the Kishore Bharati Stadium on Monday.
For Churchill, Luka Majcen found the target twice while Kingslee Fernandes scored once.
Gokulam made a late comeback with Philip Adjah and Jithin M.S. scoring once each, but failed to pick up a point from the contest.
The Kerala outfit was reduced to 10 men in the 30th minute when Vincy Barretto was ejected after a direct red card.
Churchill remained the only unbeaten side (six wins, four draws) and finished on top with 22 points from 10 matches. Roundglass Punjab FC, which beat NEROCA FC 1-0 in its final outing later in the evening, took the second spot with 18.
Real Kashmir FC claimed the third spot with 17 points, while there was a three-way tie between Mohammedan Sporting, Gokulam and TRAU FC who ended up with 16 points each.
Sporting took the fourth spot on better head-to-head record while Gokulam and TRAU completed the top six who will play in a round-robin format to decide the champion.
The bottom five — Aizawl FC, Sudeva Delhi FC, Chennai City FC, NEROCA and Indian Arrows — will figure in the relegation round.
The results: Gokulam Kerala FC 2 (Philip Adjah 80, Jithin M.S. 90+2) lost to Churchill Brothers 3 (Luka Majcen 26, 87-pen, Kingslee Fernandes 53).
NEROCA FC 0 lost to Roundglass Punjab FC 1 (Papa Diawara 65).
