T&T striker Willis Plaza was the toast of his Churchill Brothers team-mates after he netted a 95th-minute winner in their 2-1 victory over Aizawl in the Indian I-League on Saturday.
Following a goalless first 45 minutes, Churchill Brothers went ahead in the 74th-minute courtesy Gambian Dawda Ceesay in the 74th minute at the Jawaharial Nehru Stadium in Margao Goa.
The narrow advantage looked set to hold until the final whistle but a minute into time added on for stoppages, Paul Ramfangzauva drew Aizawl level with a goal that seemed enough to earn his side a share of the points.
But there was still one more twist in the contest as the T&T defender Radanfah Abu Bakr provided the crucial assist for the 32-year-old Plaza, who replaced Ghanian Khalif Alhassan in the 67th minute, to grab a dramatic winner in the fifth minute of time added on.
Now into his third season with the club, Plaza, last year’s joint-top scorer in the league with 21 goals, has so far scored six goals in nine league matches this season to join fellow T&T international Marvin Joseph, of Gokulam Kerala, in fourth spot on the top goalscorers table, three behind Spain’s Fran Gonzalez. Abu Bakr has netted three times, Primus twice and Cyrus one as well in the league.
With the win, fifth-placed Churchill Brothers, who also featured out-of-favour national defender Robert Primus in their line-up, improved to 16 points, the same as TRAU, who hold the fourth spot on goal difference.
At the top of the table is Mohun Bagan, the club of national defender Daneil Cyrus, with 29 points from 12 matches. This after Mohun Bagan, without Cyrus on the roster, trashed NEROCA, the club of T&T duo, goalkeeper Marvin Phillip and defender Taryk Sampson, 6-2 at the Kalyani Stadium on Friday. Punjab are second on the table with 21 points from 13 matches followed by Gokulam Kerala with 17 from 11 matches.
On Wednesday (February 19), Churchill Brothers will be back in action versus sixth-placed Real Kashmir while NEROCA battles Gokulam on Friday (February 21).