Churchill Bros stay focused with I-League title in sight

Panaji: Football often defies logic, so you cannot take anything for granted.
Given that they are the in-form team, Churchill Brothers FC should be heavy favourites to win the I-League with three games left to be played and a two-point lead at the top of the table. Two of the three games are to be played at home. But the two-time former I-League champions know they cannot take anything for granted.
History, after all, hasn’t always been kind to them.
“Everything is in our hands and legs,” Churchill coach Dimitrios Dimitriou told TOI during the pre-match media interaction on Saturday. “It’s not going to be easy. If we want to write the history of this club in golden letters and make our owner Churchill Alemao happy, we have to win the next three games. There are three finals for us.”
The first of the three finals will be against Sreenidi Deccan at the Panchayat ground in Raia on Sunday. The other two games are against second-placed Inter Kashi and Real Kashmir.
“The boys have till now made us proud and we have great belief in them that they will continue the good work. We have reached here with players sweating on the field. It’s their hard work and commitment. We just need to continue for the final three games,” said Dimitriou.
Despite the setback of having a point taken away after they were found to have made a wrong substitution against Aizawl FC, Churchill have not got distracted. It reflects in the results, three convincing wins in the last three games against Rajasthan United (3-1), Shillong Lajong (6-1) and Dempo SC (3-1).
Sreenidi Deccan, though, will offer a tougher challenge. Classified as one of the teams that will challenge for the I-League title, the Hyderabad-based side have lost direction with frequent coach changes and, of course, indifferent form. But Churchill will be wary having lost the away clash earlier in the league.
“Sreeindi will be tough but there’s passion within the team and everyone’s determined (to win the title),” said Romario Jesuraj, a two-time I-League champion with Chennai City and Mohun Bagan. “We are taking this match by match and there are three finals to be played. The focus now is on Sreenidi.”
With 26 points from 19 matches, Sreenidi Deccan are eighth on the table, a poor return for a team that was built to challenge for the I-League title.
“Our (eighth) position on the table looks very bad,” admitted assistant coach Ishant Singh, who has taken charge for the last nine games, the third coach for the season. “We want to win the remaining games and finish as high as possible. There’s not a big gap between us and teams on top. I don’t think motivation will be a problem for a team of Sreenidi’s calibre. We have been playing quite well in the second phase of the season.”
Rosenberg Gabriel didn’t expect his team to have such “ups and downs” but said the team cannot afford to lose focus towards the end.
“We were title contenders, but things went wrong from the start of the season. There were different coaches, and even the players’ form was not what we expected. But we will fight till the end and finish as high as possible,” said the Sreenidi Deccan winger.