Margao, Dec 27: Churchill Brothers enjoys edge over their rivals when they take on Sporting Clube De Goa tomorrow in the 12th round of the I-League, played at Nehru Stadium here.

Churchill Brothers having failed to stay at the top of the table after having lost to Pune FC are on 23 points from eleven matches, the same as East Bengal, slipped to third position as they have inferior goal average against East Bengal.

Both the teams are going in tomorrow’s match with a defeat and are looking for a win to improve their position.

Churchill’s coach Manuel Gomes said the boys are all motivated after their loss against Pune FC. We need to win tomorrow as we want to stay close to leader Dempo who are one point ahead of us at the top of the table.

Sporting are a good side who can turn the table around on their given day and we need to remain focus till the end,” stated Gomes.

On the other hand, Sporting Clube de Goa who could muster only one point out of the four matches, are struggling to find their winning way, slipped to eighth place with 13 points from eleven matches.

With four of their main stay players not playing in the last match against Dempo due to injury, they did well to remain goalless in the first half and even took the lead in the second half but succumbed to the pressure in the later part of the second half to go down to 2-3.

With defender Samanand Singh and Freiman Peixoto back from injury and so also Victorino Fernandes after serving double booking, Sporting are well prepared to take on Churchill Brothers and look forward for a win.

Sporting Clube de Goa coach Ekendra Singh said tomorrow’s game is very important as far as our standing.

We cannot afford to lose tomorrow as we have lost far too many matches which will push us further down the ladder.

My boys are all geared up and prepared to give their best tomorrow against Churchill Brothers who will go all out against us as they are fighting to stay close within to win the title,” Singh said.

PTI