T&T striker Willis Plaza return to form with a goal in Churchill Brothers' 4-1 spanking of Neroca FC in the 2019/2020 11-club Indian I-League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Margao, Goa on Sunday.
Churchill Brothers took the lead in the fifth minute thanks to Ponif Vaz but Phillip Adjah got Neroca FC level in the 26th before Plaza converted a penalty in the 35th past fellow T&T player, goalkeeper Marvin Phillip, his fifth in seven matches, for his team to lead 2-1 at the half-time interval.
Twenty minutes into the second-half, Vinil Poojary extended Churchill Brothers lead to 3-1 while Israil Gurung added the fourth item in the 90th to complete the comfortable win.
The win was the fourth in eight matches for Churchill Brothers who were without the suspended duo of T&T defenders, Radanfah Abu Bakr and Robert Primus to move to 13 points in the fifth spot on the 11-club table while Neroca which also featured T&T's Taryk Sampson in their line-up lies in the eighth spot with eight points from ten matches, after a sixth loss on the season.
At the top of the standings with 23 points is Mohun Bagan, the club of national defender Daneil Cyrus after they battled past Chennai City 3-2 while Punjab sits in second with 17, two more than TRAU followed by Marcus Joseph's Gokulam Karela (14 pts), who have a match in hand.
At the EMS Stadium, Kozhikode, Kerala a week ago fellow Joseph netted the lone goal to lead Gokulam Kerala to a 1-0 victory over Churchill Brothers.
The 28-year-old Joseph, the 2018 T&T Pro League top scorer with 18 goals and now in his second season with the Indian club got the decisive strike in the 38th minute, his fifth item of the season in eight matches, off an assist from Haroon Fakhruddin to give his team which also included fellow T&T players, defender Andre Ettienne, 29, and midfielder Nathaniel Garcia, 26, full points.
Churchill Brothers with Primus and Abu Bakr, 32 in their starting eleven ended the match with ten men after the latter was issued a second yellow card in the 86th minute after picking up his first in the 23rd.
Earlier last week, Abu Bakr scored in Churchill Brothers, 1-2 loss at Aciesta TRAU at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Margao Goa, India.
Former W Connection midfielder, St Kitts & Nevis midfielder Gerard Williams fired Trau into the lead in the 15th minute, but Churchill Brothers who also featured Primus, and Plaza, who netted 21 goals last year drew level on the half-hour mark thanks to Abu Bakr.
Ten minutes into the second-half TRAU would regain the lead when goalkeeper Mohammad Jafar Mondal conceded an own-goal before Primus was cautioned in the 70th minute, and Plaza replaced nine minutes later as their team went in search of an equaliser which never came.
In the previous round, out-of-favour national defender Primus scored his second goal of the season as Churchill Brothers battled to a 2-2 draw with Aizawl at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Aizawl.