By IANS
Kolkata : Santos FC of South Africa set up a title clash with Mahindra United for the 113th IFA Shield as they beat Mohun Bagan and Churchill Brothers respectively in the semi-finals here Wednesday.
While Santos FC beat Mohun Bagan 4-2, defending champion Mahindra United entered the final defeating Churchill Brothers in the tie-breakers 6-4 (1-1).
Santos FC fired their first salvo when Danny Bowers netted in the 21st minute of the match. Tasleem Paulse buttressed the lead in the 40th minute while Gregory Roelf increased the tally in the 59th minute. The last goal was scored by Jarren Moultrie in the 87th minute.
For Bagan, Baichung Bhutia headed home off Jose Ramirez Barreto in the 66th minute to open the account for hosts while Ishfaq Ahmed’s 30-yard piledriver found target in the 79th minute to reduce the margin.
In the first of the two semis between Mahindra United and Churchill Brothers, both sides were levelled at 1-1 till the end of 120 minutes, taking the match into a tie-breaker.
Mahindra players got all their shots right in the tie-breaker while Churchill fell short on one when its defender Govin Singh saw his attempt coming off the upright.
N.P. Pradeep, Yakubu Yusif, Manjit Singh, Harpreet Singh and Mohammad Rafi scored for Mumbai outfit. On the other hand, Churchill could not recover from the deficit created by Govin Singh’s miss. Iyomi Mboyo, Thangjam Singh and Khantang Paite scored for Churchill.
The action in the regulation time was lifeless with both teams preferring safe soccer to going all out for a win. The first session ended barren with Churchill, the I-league runner-up, enjoying a greater share.
Iyomi Mboyo, Churchill’s Congolese striker, worked relentlessly to break free but found himself heavily policed by the jeepmen from Mumbai. Yusif Yakubu was also bottled up inside the Churchill defence.
Mboyo used a set-piece situation to find the lead in the 71st minute. A swerving freekick by the Churchill striker beat the Mahindra custodian Subhasish Roy Chowdhury. Mahindra came back a minute later when Steven Dias set a measured cross for unmarked Manjit Singh, who nodded home.
Dias earned two chances in extra-time. The first attempt was saved on the goalmouth by Churchill defender Gourmangi Singh, while the second came off the upright.