Chennaiyin FC clinched a thrilling 2-1 win over the Indian Super League (ISL) table-topper Odisha FC in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Sunday to breathe fresh life into its playoff aspirations.
It looked like CFC’s wastefulness in front of goal would bite the club once again when Roy Krishna levelled the scores in the 78th minute but substitute Jordan Murray headed home the match-winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time to send the sparse local crowd into delirium.
While the three points may have lifted the club by only a position to 10th in the table, the performance it put on the pitch belied the clubs’ respective positions on the evening.
OFC, which seemingly had one eye on its upcoming AFC Cup assignment next Thursday, remains level with second-placed Mumbai City FC, having played a game more.
For CFC to have any chance of getting a result against Odisha, the team needed to stop its deep-lying midfielder Ahmed Jahouh from dictating the play, which not many teams have been successful in doing so in his seven years in the ISL.
Chennaiyin did the hard yards in the opening half by thwarting the 35-year-old with its pressing and interceptions high up the pitch. Its midfielders Connor Shields and Ayush Adhikari set the tempo early by preventing Odisha from settling into its rhythm.
Chennaiyin’s pressure from the start resulted in Rafael Crivellaro forcing an early save from Amrinder Singh with a speculative shot from distance.
ALSO READ: AIFF sacks legal head after he accuses president Kalyan Chaubey of corruption
From the resulting corner, Crivellaro played in an inswinging corner into the six-yard area of the goal, where Ankit Mukherjee, all of 5’9”, got ahead of the towering Mourtada Fall to flick the ball past a rooted Amrinder for the lead.
But the class of Jahouh would ultimately shine through, with the midfielder beginning to string together short and long passes, which saw Odisha finally growing into the game.
If it weren’t for Chennaiyin custodian Debjit Majumder’s saves, with two close-range stops off Roy Krishna and Isak Vanlalruatfela, Odisha would have gone ahead before the break. Jahouh picked out Isak with a pin-point long ball at the stroke of half-time, but the winger’s shot from close range was brilliantly saved by an onrushing Debjit.
Odisha head coach Sergio Lobera made Chennaiyin’s work a little easier before the restart when he surprisingly took off Jahouh for Cy Goddard. Odisha struggled to control the game in the second period with Chennaiyin having plenty of opportunities on the counter to punish the away side but failed to capitalise on them.
Goddard did have an impact in the 78th minute when his corner was headed into the face of the goal by Amey Ranawade which was then looped over Debjit by Krishna for the equaliser. Lobera then swapped Krishna for center-back Carlos Delgado in the hopes of seeing out a point.
Chennaiyin, however, had big chances after the goal through substitutes Murray and Rahim Ali, which ended straight at Amrinder. But with one last rallying cry from the crowd, Murray made the home fans happy by nodding in a Shields’ corner past Amrinder to give Chennaiyin a much-needed victory.
Comments
SHARE