Bagan down Churchill Brothers,
enter final

Calcutta giants Mohun Bagan ended Zee Churchill Brothers' superb run in the Durand Cup with a 2-0 win in the semi-finals on Thursday, to set up a title clash with Mahindra United.

This was the 15-time champions' 25th entry to the final. They last won the trophy in 1994.

Zee Churchill, who started the match as favourites following their brilliant victories in the quater-final stage, succumbed to the superior firepower of Bagan.

If Churchill tried to contain the menacing Brazilian forwards Baretto and Santos, they let the third Bagan forward R C Prakash off the hook. It was he who scored in the 24th and 35th minutes to seal the Goa team's fate.

Churchill, who had only conceded a solitary goal to East Bengal in the round of eight, never recovered from the double blow. Their lack of bench strength was also exposed as the team lacked players to replace those out of form.

Intially it was Churchill who attacked and in the fifth minute when Stephen Abrowei shot straight to the goalkeeeper. Seven minutes later he gave an excellent pass to Francis Silveira, but he slipped and failed to make contact.

Soon the Bagan forwards showed their terrific form breaking the rival defence at will. Basudeb Mondal almost scored in the eighth minute but Churchill custodian Edward Ansah came up with a fine save.

Bagan's attacks continued unabated and the trio of Prakash, Baretto and Santos shredded the Churchill defence.

In the 17th minute, Barretto, moving up through the right, gave an excellent pass to Prakash, whose powerful shot beat Edward Ansah. But to the disappointment of the roaring Bagan supporters the ball hit the right post and bounced out.

Three minutes later, following a free-kick, R P Singh had a chance but blasted it over the post. By now the Churchill defence was all at sea and were unable to check the Bagan forwards.

The defence of Rajesh Meetai, Ousman Hussein and Mahesh Gawli, who was injured early in the match, were beaten for pace by the Bagan trio.

Twenty- four minutes into the match, Bagan could smell a goal. Jose Barretto, who harassed the Churchill defence, drove in and passed it to Prakash. Prakash's shot again hit the post but this time went in to make the score 1-0.

Eleven minutes later it was Santos's turn. After a long run through the right he sent in a superb cross to Basudeb Mondal who gave it back to Santos. His high ball was headed in by an unmarked Prakash and the scoreboard read 2-0.

Goalkeeper Edward Ansah tried to rescue his team trying to do a 'Higitua'. But it almost backfired close to halftime when Prakash snatched a ball and lobbed. But the ball just went wide.

Though Churchill tried to raise their game, the key players failed to deliver when it mattered most. Stephen, upfront, was a mere spectator most of the time and failed to beat the Bagan defence, where Suresh, Hussain Mustafi and Dulal Biswas played their best game of the tournament.

But the biggest let down for Churchill was Francis Silveira who failed to score more than once.