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India captain Sunil Chhetri scored twice on his Churchill Brothers debut, helping them beat Dempo 2-0 in the Goa Pro League on Thursday.
Chhetri scored once in each half, as Churchill closed down the gap on Dempo to just two points, and trail league leaders Salgaocar by just four.
Besides Chhetri, Senegalese defender Lamine Tamba also made his debut for the Churchill Brothers, who named a strong lineup as India international Denzil Franco and in-form center-back Dharmaraj Ravanan also started.
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Chhetri, whose only previous Goan club is Dempo, opened the scoring after receiving a pass from Bineesh Balan, and Churchill went into halftime leading 1-0.
The 28-year-old scored his and Churchill’s second from a penalty, which was won by Balan, in the second half, and the Red Machines held onto their two-goal advantage till the final whistle.
Besides the brace, Chhetri will be delighted to have completed 90 minutes in a club game for the first time in nearly nine months.
His next match for Churchill will be in the AFC Cup against Hong Kong’s Kitchee SC on Tuesday, following which he will join the national team for the AFC Challenge Cup 2014 qualifiers in Myanmar next month.
