Slack defending and a casual approach by rival goalkeeper Juje Siddi allowed Churchill Brothers to score a comprehensive 5-0 win over Salgaocar in the play-off for third place in the 27th Federation Cup in Margao on Saturday.
The highlight of the match was the fastest goal ever scored in the competition by Churchill's Jotin Singh, who gave his team the lead within 15 seconds of the start of the match.
Carlos Fernandes and Tony Ngozi added two more goals from long range to surprise a casual Salgaocar keeper Juje Siddi, who played his first match of the tournament replacing Sangram Mukherjee, to have Churchill leading 3-0 at half time.
Man-of-the-match Osumanu Husseini than made it 4-0 in the 82nd minute with a free kick before substitute P T Sony rounded off the tally off a pass from Tony in the 88th minute to humiliate Salgaocar.
Referee T Pradeep Kumar showed yellow cards to Churchill's Vanlalrova Chuaungo and Salgaocar's Rocus Lamare.
Salgaocar failed to play a collective game with their defence caught napping often with keeper Juje Siddi looking ordinary.
Tony Ngozi led the charge for Churchill along with Vanlalrova and Jotin Singh.
With hardly 15 seconds in the match, Churchill took the lead following a swift move from the centre by Chandan Singh who laid a forward pass to Tony which caught the entire rival defence napping. Tony then relayed the ball to unmarked Jotin Singh who chipped the ball over onrushing keeper Siddi into the net.
Buoyed by the early success, Churchill stepped up the tempo and increased the lead in the 20th minute when Carlos Fernandes beat Siddi with a long ranger that found the far end of the net.
Tony Ngozi, who played a leading role in Churchill's success, than made it 3-0 from another long ranger that evaded Siddi's grasp.
After the break, Osumanu Husseini scored with a stunning free kick and substitute Sony P T found the net off a pass from Tony.
Churchill Bros coach Peter Rodrigues was happy with the way his team performed.
"My boys were motivated after their semi-final loss to Mahindras. It is a great performance and a big achievement in this prestigious tournament," he said.
On the other hand, Salgaocar coach Shabir Ali blamed fatigue saying the team played three matches in a very short period.
More from rediff