Rangdajied United Go Down By a Solitary Goal To Churchill Brothers
Source: Babua Biswas *

Imphal, February 11 2014: Rangdajied United's post-winter break I-League campaign began on a sore note on Tuesday, as the club went down by a solitary goal to defending champions Churchill Brothers at the Tilak Maidan in Goa.

Recent signings TP Rehnesh, Sushant Mathew and Steven Dias all made their club debuts, as head coach Santosh Kashyap fielded an attacking line-up against the newly-crowned Federation Cup champions.

The Blues began the game on a bright note, as they kept on pressing the Churchill Brothers defence in the early exchanges.

15 minutes into the game, forward Edmar put the ball into the back of the net after being put through on goal by fellow striker Kim Song Yong, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

A few minutes later, Steven Dias attempted to drill in his shot into the Churchill goal, but the debutant's attempt narrowly went out, as Rangdajied kept up their free-flowing game.

At the other end, Churchill's own debutant, Christian Lagos, hit the post a few minutes prior to the lemon break, as the teams went into halftime with the scores unchanged.

Churchill came out a different side after the breather, and tried to push back the Rangdajied backline.

A few minutes into the half, Rangdajied's debutant custodian Rehnesh was deemed to have impeded Churchill's Lagos inside the box.

Anthony Wolfe dispatched the spot-kick, giving Churchill a 1-0 lead in the game.

Rehnesh, however, redeemed himself by denying Churchill forward Balwant Singh a chance to double the hosts' lead a few minutes later, after the latter had been put through on goal.

Rangdajied, meanwhile, stepped up their search for an equalizer as the game reached its final few minutes.

Skipper Eugeneson Lyngdoh's dead ball skills almost yielded a goal for Rangdajied, only for Churchill goalkeeper Lalit Thapa to make a fine save.

A little later, Yohei Iwasaki was denied by a fine save from Thapa, as Churchill held on for a 1-0 win.

The loss now means that Rangdajied will drop to the bottom of the table, with 12 points from 15 games.

The Blues will next play former champions Dempo SC on Saturday at the same venue, as the club continues its quest for I-League survival.

* The sender is Media Manager | Rangdajied United FC and can be contacted at rufcmedia(At)gmail(dot)com .

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