Barreto takes Mohun Bagan
past Churchill Brothers

Mohun Bagan relied on the brilliance of striker Jose Ramirez Barreto to carve out a 2-1 victory over Churchill Brothers in a National Football League match at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata on Thursday.

The Brazilian striker scored two superb goals to not only save the day for the glamour club but take it atop the points table at the midway stage of the league.

The talented Barreto fired the first salvo in the 23rd minute of the contest but Churchill Brothers found the equaliser through their Ghanian striker, Abdul Ganayu Saleh within ten minutes, to throw the game wide open again.

But the irrepressible Barreto, who has come to the rescue of his team on a number of occasions, sealed the fate of the spirited Goan outfit with a spectacular goal just four minutes before the interval much to the delight of the home crowd.

Leading by a 2-1 margin at the interval, Mohun Bagan kept up the tempo in the early stages of the second session with a flurry of raids but seemed to run out of steam after some time, allowing their rivals to come close to the goalmouth a few times.

With this victory, Mohun Bagan found themselves on top of the points table alongwith Mahindra United having collected 18 points from nine outings. Churchill have 15 points from as many matches.

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