Minerva Punjab beat Churchill Brothers 1-0 to win maiden I-League trophy

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Minerva Punjab became the 2017-18 I-League champions when they beat Churchill Brothers 1-0 on the last day of the season on Thursday.

Prior to this match, Minerva were placed on 32 points from 17 matches, keeping NEROCA (31 points from 17 games), Mohun Bagan (30 points from 17 games), East Bengal (30 points from 17 games) all in the fray for the title.

William Opoku Asiedu scored in the 15th minute of the match to put Minerva ahead at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula, after which the team's defense rose to the occasion and ensured the scoreline stayed the same till the end of the match. 

Minerva's success is quite incredulous as it was only their second season in the top flight. They were promoted to the first division after finishing runners-up in the second division in the 2015-16 season.

In 2016-17, in their maiden season in the first division, Minerva had finished ninth.   

In other results on Thursday, new entrants NEROCA and East Bengal played out a 1-1 draw. Felix Chidi Odili scored for NEROCA in the 42nd minute before Dudu Omagbemi equalised for East Bengal in the 73rd minute of the match.    

Mohun Bagan and another new entrants Gokulam Kerala also split points. Aser Pierrick Dipanda put Bagan ahead in the 26th minute before Henry Kisekka restored parity in first-half stoppage time. 

With those results, NEROCA finished second behind Minerva, followed by Kolkatan giants Mohun Bengal and East Bengal.