The 1000th match of the Indian Super League (ISL) failed to have a winner as Chennaiyin FC played out a 1-1 draw against Mumbai City FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Saturday.
Both goals came in the second half and from set-pieces, with Chennaiyin captain Ryan Edwards scoring the opener at the hour mark and Nathan Asher Rodrigues bagging the equaliser three minutes later.
Starting in its familiar 4-3-3 shape, Mumbai choked the Chennaiyin backline in the opening minutes, with Yoell Van Nieff playing as the extra man in attack. Jeremy Manzorro and Brandon Fernandes made successful overlapping and underlapping runs, combining well with Bipin Singh and Lallianzula Chhangte.
However, it almost landed Mumbai in peril in the eighth minute when Chennaiyin launched a counter-attack. Connor Shields found the perfect outlet with a lobbed through ball for Vincy Barretto, who had acres of green ahead.
Using his raw pace, Vincy surged forward, with the crowd’s cheer turning into a crescendo with every blade of grass he covered.
He had teammate Irfan Yadwad in support, who was in a better position to score had he received the pass, but Vincy opted for glory himself, shooting low across the ‘keeper. But experienced custodian Phurba Lachenpa covered his angles well and got down quickly to make the save, much to the crowd’s dismay.
As the half-progressed Chenaniyin started to settle into the match - it was clear that one of head coach Owen Coyle’s major game plans was to exploit Rodrigues’ inexperience as a fullback. Most of the attacks came from the right flank, with Vincy making those runs between the channels and trying to find space in the Mumbai backline.
While the crowd appreciated Chennaiyin’s attacking intent, they did not shy away from expressing their displeasure at the poor quality of the final ball, which wasn’t exclusive to the home team.
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Mumbai also had its fair share of time in the final third, but the ISL Cup champion lacked incisiveness in the final phase of play. As anticipated, Nikolaos Karelis was the focal point of Mumbai’s attacks. Even though the Greek found some good positions inside the Chennaiyin box, he failed to trouble Mohammad Nawaz with his shot at goal, with most going over the crossbar or past the post by a considerable margin.
Chennaiyin had a chance to carry a slight momentum into half-time if not for Lachenpa’s timely reaction in the 37th minute.
Shields, who was drifting to the flanks quite often, found himself with some time and space on the right flank. Spotting Wilmar Jordan Gil in the box, Shields floated the ball to his teammate, and the Chennaiyin No. 9 got the perfect connection, sending the ball towards goal with a looping header. But Lachenpa perfectly timed his dive and made a fingertip save to send the ball over the crossbar.
Mumbai head coach Petr Kratky decided to sacrifice Fernandes’ vision for Jayesh Rane’s pace with a half-time substitution, but both teams took a cautious approach in the opening minutes of the second half.
With the crowd growing impatient at the boring display from open play, it took a set-piece to bring the roof down in the 60th minute. Chennaiyin won a freekick after Vincy was fouled in the final third. With the distance too far for a direct shot, Shields instructed his teammates to crowd the Mumbai box as he stood over the ball.
His delivery at the far post was pinpoint, and Edwards towered over everyone to head the ball across the face of goal. The Englishman’s connection had the perfect amount of power as the ball looped over Lachenpa, hit the woodwork and ended up at the back of the net.
Chennaiyin FC celebrates after scoring against Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League. | Photo Credit: FSDL/ISL Media
Leading at home with a captain’s goal, the Chennaiyin faithful had ample reason to celebrate, but the Nehru Stadium suddenly went silent in the 63rd minute.
Mumbai had converted a set-piece of its own.
From a corner, Van-Nieff’s cross at the back-post found Rodrigues, whose looping header rendered Nawaz, a mere spectator as the young fullback ran towards the corner flag to celebrate with his teammates.
Chennaiyin’s lead had lasted just three minutes.
One cannot fault Coyle with settling for a draw as the Scotsman made a flurry of attacking changes, bringing on Daniel Chima Chukwu, Kiyan Nassiri, Gurkirat Singh and Lukas Brambilla in the second half, but they could not breach the Mumbai defence.
Kratky looked concerned when Tiri had to be substituted due to an injury in the 68th minute, but substitute Thaer Krouma settled in quickly in the heart of the defence and did a fair job of thwarting the Chennaiyin attacks.
In the dying moments of the clash, Chukwu got the crowd excited with a first-time volley, but the shot was straight at Lachenpa, who did well to hold on to the ball to prevent the rebound.
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