Welcome to Sportstar's ISL 2020-21 highlights of the Chennaiyin FC vs SC East Bengal clash being played at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim.
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That brings us to the end of our ISL coverage for the day. We will be back tomorrow when Hyderabad FC takes on bottom-placed Odisha FC. Until then, you can follow our entire ISL coverage here . Goodnight!
MATCH REPORT|
SC East Bengal coach Robbie Fowler : "I am delighted with the resilience and attitude of our players. I am massively disappointed with referee's performance again. We've had a lot of injustice again. I'm not saying he (Ajay Chhetri) didn't deserve to be sent off, but our players were getting kicked left right and centre and the referee didn't want to put his hand in his pocket for a yellow card. We have good players and the ISL should have good players but when they get kicked they don't want to come over here because they're not being looked after. It's border under disgraceful sometimes,some decisions by the referees. I am mentally exhausted because I am fighting battles with the referees every single game. It's an absolute joke. We can't keep doing this.
"He probably did deserve the second yellow card, but not the first one. It was actually our ball for a throw-in so he was probably not in the wrong frame of mind. We are used to it now because we've had no decisions from any referees this year. We play Mumbai City on Friday and we know what to expect...we won't be getting any decisions again because that's what it's like."
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Chennaiyin FC coach Csaba Laszlo : "It is so that when you have a one man advantage you don't always win the game and you saw that today. In our case it was maybe as a bad advantage because I saw the players thought we had already won. It was very bad. I think it was the second worst game until now after our loss to Hyderabad. I am sad because in this case we also had the chances. If we scored 1-0, then the game is done. If they have 10 men they will fight and give everything. It was a good lesson for everybody, that the game is so that you will have to do even more even when you are against 10 men. We did not move much in midfield and lacked ideas and it is not what I wanted from my team.
Vishal was okay, the two central defenders did everything but I missed the creativity. After Thapa went out we had nobody, just Edwin who is creative. I tried to bring Fatkhullo in for the crosses but he was also not the Fatkhullo which I wanted in this case. But okay, this is now over and we have to take it. This 0-0 feels like a defeat to me."
[On Thapa's injury]: "It was very bad. He is a player who can make a difference. He told me that wanted to come out because his hamstring was hurtling a little bit. I hope it's not so bad. I can't tell you how long he will be out but he will definitely miss the next game as we again in three days."
Over to the post match comments now
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SC East Bengal puts up a strong defensive display to hold Chennaiyin FC to a goalless draw. Robbie Fowler's side was down to 10 men for over an hour of play, but managed to hold on and earn a crucial point. Chennaiyin will be gutted at failing to seal the tie despite having chances aplenty.
The result says both teams retain their places on the points table - Chennaiyin in sixth and SC East Bengal in ninth.
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FULL TIME: Chennaiyin FC 0 - 0 SC East Bengal
90+4' No late drama here as both sides take home a point each. Resilient performance from SC East Bengal, which was reduced to 10 men in the 31st minute.
90+3' Chennaiyin pushing men ahead in search of a late winner. Will we have a last-gasp goal here?
90' What a chance! Debjit's poor goal-kick sees Fatkhulo release Chhangte down on the right and play it back to the Tajik at the centre. Fatkhulo has a chance to pick his spot but his shot lacks power and it's an easy save for the 'keeper. Four minutes to be added on.
89' Set-piece chance for Chennaiyin now! Fatkhulo is fouled by Narayan and the latter gets booked.
88' Pilkington takes the free-kick but blasts it well off-target.
87' Holloway wins a free-kick at the edge of box. Edu Garcia scored a direct free-kick yesterday..will we see another one today?
85' First change for SC East Bengal as Bright is replaced by Aaron Amadi Holloway. Syvlestr has picked up a yellow card.
84' If there's one major reason why SC East Bengal is still in the game, it has to be Debjit's stunning performance between the sticks. He makes another fine block to deny Chhangte from close-range.
82' Bright has this wonderful ability to create spaces even when surrounded by defenders.
81' Third change for Chennaiyin - Tajik winger Fatkhulo Fatkhulloev comes on for Isma.
80' Isma pulls one back for Sylvestr...but the shot is blocked. His wait for his second ISL goal continues.
77' Chennaiyin FC has conceded nine times in the second half! Can SC East Bengal steal a winner?
75' Sylvestrrrrr...side netting. The Slovakian plays a give neat give and go with Chhangte, but his final shot finds the side-netting.
74' SC East Bengal has done remarkably well to keep the Chennaiyin forwards in check despite being a man down.
72' How close was that?! Pilkington fights off two defenders and unleashes a ferocious long-range strike. The shot swerves and dips but misses the target by inches.
70' Debjit produces another fantastic save. Isma plays a lovely weighted ball for Rahim and Debjit rushes off his line to clear the danger. The 'keeper has been SC East Bengal's best player on the pitch by a mile.
69' Best chance of the evening for SC East Bengal! Narayan nearly does as Crivellaro as his inswinging corner almost ends up in the back of net. Fox was the intented target, but the cross is a tad too high for him.
66' Second change for Chennaiyin - Deepak Tangri replaces Sipovic.
65' The players seem be losing a little bit of composure here and this is turning out to be a rather tempestuous affair.
64' Bright looks absolutely knackered here. He loses a tussle with Jerry and is catching his breath on the sidelines. Sipovic might be substituted soon.
62' Chennaiyin caught napping at the back! A long free-kick sees Pilkington run into space and have a go at goal, but Kaith make a fine block.
60' Consecutive corners for Chennaiyin. The first one sees Memo's shot cleared, while the second one allows SC East Bengal to break on the counter. Isma fouls Bright from behind to stop the attack.
57' Chance for Edwin! Isma does well to hold up the play and lay it perfectly for Edwin. The midfielder has the time and space to take a touch or two, but shoots first time and can;t get any venom on it. A routine save for Debjit, who has been a busy man today.
56' Sabia becomes the first Chennaiyin player to be booked as he is penalised for a foul on Pilkington.
55' Sharp save from Debjit. Sylvestr finds Isma at the edge of the box and the Bissau-Guinean takes a touch before firing a curling strike. Debjit, though, is up to the challenge.
51' Surchandra's cross nearly leads to the opener! Sipovic tries to clear the chance but his clearance hits Sabia and lands kindly for Pilkington. The Irishman twists and has a go at goal but can only find the side netting.
48' SC East Bengal has been reduced to 10 men three times this season, but the side hasn't lost even one of those games.
46' Csaba Laszlo makes the first change of the evening as Thapa makes way for Jakub Sylvestr. It's quite a surprising decision, considering Thapa is one of Chennaiyin's key players. Could be an injury concern perhaps.
46' KICK OFF! The second half gets underway..
HALF-TIME: Chennaiyin FC 0 - 0 SC East Bengal
An ill-tempered last few minutes bring an end to the opening half with neither side managing to break the deadlock. SC East Bengal began well and dominated the ball until the 25 minute mark, but didn't create a clear goal-scoring chance as such.
Chennaiyin was forced on the back-foot initially but came to life after Ajay Chhetri's sending off in the 31st minute. Ajay, making his first start for SC East Bengal, was sent off after receiving two yellow cards. Chennaiyin had the better of chances, with Sipovic and Thapa coming close.
45+2' Sipovic brings down Pilkington yet again and this time it's right in front of the SC East Bengal bench. Fowler is ballistic, hopeful of the Chennaiyin defender being booked, but it's not to be. Free-kick to SC East Bengal.
44' Pilkington is brought down by Sipovic and SC East Bengal has a set-piece opporutnity. Robbie Fowler's men have scored 45 percent of their goals this season from set-pieces. Two minutes to be added on.
43' Inches away! Isma plays a delightful dummy and Thapa storms into the box to get at the end of Jerry's through ball. Thapa tries to toe poke it towards Rahim on the right, but it takes a deflection and rolls inches away from the far post.
41' Alert defending from Fox. Thapa releases Edwin down the right but Fox does well to block Edwin.
38' Chennaiyin FC seems to have gained the upper hand now. Other than the obvious numerical advantage, the men in blue have made repeated forays into the final third while offering little to no room at the back.
35' This game just got tougher for SC East Bengal. Robbie Fowler's men will now need to play the remainder of this game with only 10 men.
34' SC East Bengal's assistant coach Tony Grant is also shown a yellow card.
32' Ajay is unwilling to leave the pitch. He continues to plead with the referee and continues to argue his case, but it's not going to make any difference. The 21-year-old's behaviour is very questionable as he goes on to jostle with the referee.
31' RED CARD! Ajay Chhetri's first start is cut short. He makes a horrendous tackle on Rahim and is shown a second yellow card. That's a third red card for SC East Bengal this season.
29' Bright's getting medical attention on the sidelines. He clattered with Thapa a minute ago and seems to have hurt his knee in the process.
28' Debjit forced into action again. Chennaiyin's tactic to rely on the long ball seems to be working. Edwin is released down the right and Debjit races ahead to clear the danger.
27' Injury concern for Chennaiyin? Sipovic is gesturing that he may have a groin problem.
25' Nervous moment there for Debjit. Chhangte plays a brilliant long ball and Isma races goalwards. Debjit looks hesitant to come off his line but makes a last-minute dash and managed to clear the danger. That looked anything but convincing.
23' First real chance of the game! Thapa curls the free-kick into the box but none of his team-mates are able to have first-time a crack at goal. Sabia crosses the ball back into the box and Sipovic is unmarked, but he is unable to keep his header on target.
21' Ajay Chhetri, making his first start with SC East Bengal, picks up a yellow card for a poor challenge on Thapa. While the referee initially seemed to let him go with a warning, Ajay continued to argue and was soon shown a yellow card.
18' Isma and Jerry combine again! The burly striker lays it for an onrushing Jerry, but the latter's left-footed strike zooms above the crossbar.
15' Debjit forced into action! Isma receives a long ball from Sipovic and does extremely well to shield it and find Jerry's run on the left. Jerry drills a low cross into the box, but there are no takers and Debjit makes his first save of the evening.
11' SC East Bengal's attacks have largely been limited to the right flank so far through Bright and Maghoma.
8' Bright wins another free-kick after being brown down by Jerry. Much like the last set-piece chance, the delivery fails to create a chance and is dealt with by the defence.
5' Memo is lucky to escape a booking. He makes the initial foul on Bright and the Nigerian catches Memo's face with a stray arm. The ref awards the free-kick to SC East Bengal. Memo, clearly unhappy, wags a finger at Bright before pushing him away.
3' Sabia leaps over Pilkington to win a header, but gives away a free-kick in the process. Sabia vs Pilkington will be a key contest today.
1' Isma and Edwin combine well and Chennaiyin has won a corner in 25 seconds.
1' KICK OFF! SC East Bengal attacking from left to right.
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7:25pm: Two-time champion Chennaiyin FC in its traditional blue home kit, while SC East Bengal in its white away jersey.
7:20pm: From the mid-season transfers being in full flow to Jamshedpur losing three in a row, here's our pick of the major talking points from the week gone by -
7:10pm: Today will mark the first time that Pilkington, Bright and Maghoma start for SC East Bengal. The three foreigners have been in the thick of goals, scoring six between them.
7pm: We caught up room-mates and childhood friends Edwin and Dhanpal Ganesh last season. From their first memory of playing against each other, to the kind of pranks they've pulled off, this chat has it all. Watch:
6:50pm: Just the one change for Chennaiyin FC as Edwin Vanspaul replaces Tajik midfielder Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev. Edwin will be making only his second start of the season.
Here's a composite read on Edwin's footballing journey, from winning the I-League title to bagging the ISL crown -
6:40pm: Robbie Fowler makes three changes to the SC East Bengal starting line-up. In a major boost to the side, Anthony Pilkington is back in the XI. New signing Ajay Chhetri, who joined SC East Bengal only three days ago, is given his first start.
IN: Anthony Pilkington, Surchandra Singh, Ajay Chhetri | OUT: Matti Steinmann, Harmanpreet Singh, Rana Gharami
6:30pm: TEAM NEWS!
Chennaiyin FC XI
Vishal Kaith (GK), Reagan Singh, Enes Sipovic, Eli Sabia, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Edwin Vanspaul, Anirudh Thapa, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Memo Moura, Rahim Ali, Esmael Goncalves
SC East Bengal XI
Debjit Majumder (GK), Narayan Das, Scott Neville, Daniel Fox, Ankit Mukherjee, Surchandra Singh, Milan Singh, Anthony Pilkington, Ajay Chhetri, Jacques Maghoma, Bright Enobakhare
6:15pm: While Chennaiyin FC did score two goals in its win over Odisha FC, the side has managed only 10 goals so far - the lowest in the league. Here's an analytical piece on how Chennaiyin creates chances aplenty, but can't get the goals -
6pm: Here's how we think the two sides could line-up today -
Chennaiyin FC predicted XI (4-2-3-1)
Vishal Kaith; Reagan Singh, Enes Sipovic, Eli Sabia, Jerry Lalrinzuala; Memo Moura, Anirudh Thapa; Rahim Ali, Jakub Sylvestr, Lallianzuala Chhangte; Esmael Goncalves
SC East Bengal predicted XI (3-5-2)
Debjit Majumder; Raju Gaikwad, Scott Neville, Daniel Fox; Ankit Mukherjee, Matti Steinmann; Milan Singh, Narayan Das; Harmanpreet Singh, Bright Enobakhare, Jacques Maghoma
5:45pm: Match preview -
Chennaiyin FC pushes for top-four berth in match against SC East Bengal
Chennaiyin FC has the opportunity to make the top-four when it takes on SC East Bengal in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the GMC Athletic Stadium on Monday.
In the absence of talismanic midfielder and skipper Rafael Crivellaro, sixth-placed Chennaiyin is seeking to put together positive results to make its way up the table. In the three matches since the Brazilian's season-ending injury, Chennaiyin has lost once before taking four points from their back-to-back matches against Odisha FC.
Striker Ismael Goncalves made his first start in over a month and scored twice in the 2-1 win over Odisha on Wednesday to ease Chennaiyin’s struggles in front of goal.
Chennaiyin head coach Csaba Laszlo wants his team to add discipline in defence in the second half of the season.
The Romanian said, "I think we have to sometimes be more compact. We talk about the chances that we don't score but in this [Odisha] game we scored two but I must also be honest that the opponent also had some good opportunities. We need a little more attention in midfield and defence. Generally, I'm satisfied with the performance of the team."
Set-pieces could prove to be a major talking point in the contest. East Bengal has scored five goals from dead-ball situations, while Chennaiyin has conceded six set-piece goals. In the last meeting between the two sides, East Bengal struck two goals from corners in a 2-2 draw.
The Red and Golds pulled off a last-gasp draw in their last game against Kerala Blasters on Friday to maintain a six-match unbeaten run. The match against Chennaiyin will be their fifth game in 16 days.
SCEB head coach Robbie Fowler said, “As regards the fixture congestion, I think we've been unfortunate. We've played a lot more games in succession as compared to other teams. Having said that, we are a momentum team. We will try to embrace the situation and play to win points in every match.”
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Follow Sportstar's full coverage (Latest news, Interviews, Features, Points table, Quiz, Videos) of ISL 2020-21 .
The seventh edition of the Indian Super League got underway inside a bio-bubble in Goa on November 20.
The tournament, spanning over four months, will see 11 teams play each other in a league and playoff format across three venues. Following the inclusion of SC East Bengal, this season will feature 115 games, up from 95 last season.
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