The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai saw an entertaining fixture played out on Tuesday evening between the home team Chennai City and Goan side Churchill Brothers that ended in a 1-1 draw. The game though wasn't a dull one and both sides fashioned enough good chances to have come away with all three points, but a point a piece does give both sides something to take away from a very spirited affair.
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Brandon Fernandes gave the visitors the lead with a scorcher of a free-kick that beat Chennai City goalkeeper Shahin Meloli for pace and zip. The hosts’ in-form striker Charles De Souza then helped them equalise soon after with a nicely taken finish. Both goals came in the second half as Churchill had a goal disallowed in the first.
Playing a second match in four days and on the bank of a morale-boosting victory on Saturday, Chennai City Head Coach V. Soundararajan opted to stick with the same starting eleven with Charles De Souza leading the line and Michael Regin playing behind him in a 4-3-1-1.
Churchill Brothers too opted for their standard side with Liberian Ansumana Kromah and Trinidadian Anthony Wolfe spearheading the attack supported by wingers Chesterpoul Lyngdoh and Brandon Fernandes on the flanks.
Fernandes was a threat all night long for the hosts and he announced his intentions early when he struck a powerful, fizzing free-kick from range in the ninth minute that tested Chennai City’s keeper. And the side from Goa ended up doing much of the early running with Kromah also having shots at goal early.
The hosts did start coming into it more with the indefatigable Charles up front. In the 14th minute, he played Edwin Sydney into space on the right with a nice through ball, but the winger's cut-back/shot attempt wasn't good enough. Charles himself had a good chance on 21 minutes when skipper Dharmaraj Ravanan crossed a good ball in that he headed wide with no pressure on him.
The contentious moment of the match arrived in the 22nd minute. Kromah took advantage of Meloli’s mistake as he failed to gather the ball cleanly and tapped it into an open net, but the linesman raised his flag for offside despite no Churchill player having appeared to have a touch on the incoming ball which came off a Chennai City player.
Moments later, they almost had to pay for it when Chennai City mounted a good attack with Denson Devadas providing a good cut-back into the box from the left that Edwin just couldn't get to. Goalscorer from the previous match, Dhanapal Ganesh also had himself a good opportunity with an uncontested header in the 33rd minute.
Charles had another good chance when he was played through one-on-one with the keeper, but Adil Khan stuck to him and put enough pressure to make sure his keeper got to the ball before the striker. Chennai City were forced into a change in the first when right-back Yumnam Raju went down holding his right hamstring and was replaced by Joseph Clemente.
Fernandes threatened again from another dangerous free-kick just before half-time with the ball sailing inches over the right corner.
And it was the visitors who started the brighter in the second. Kromah almost scored the first when he took advantage of a Ravanan error at the back to get into the box, but Chennai City were saved by a last-ditch tackle from Clemente.
Soundararajan opted for a change early with Marcos 'Tank’ Vinicius replacing the unimpressive Regin. And the Tank almost made an immediate impact, as he sprinted down the left, beating his man, but his first cross attempt was blocked and the second shot attempt sailed wide.
With no goal from open play forthcoming, it was a free-kick that finally broke the deadlock. Churchill were awarded a free-kick for a careless Celestine Echezona handball outside the box, left of the D. Despite the distance appearing far, Fernandes’ strike was a brilliant one and it had Meloli beat on his right side.
This Chennai City side though has shown good fight and just like they did in the last game, struck back quickly. Tank turned provider for his countryman Charles, putting a delightful ball into the box over the defence from deep on the left. Charles running onto it, chested it down and slotted it past the keeper.
Both sides had one more good opportunity at goal - Kromah unleashing a powerful shot from the right side of the box, only to be denied by keeper Meloni while for Chennai Charles played Tank in who was beaten by the Churchill keeper.
The final 10 minutes turned scrappy as both sides tried for a win, but had to settle for a point. Chennai City move to eight points while Churchill move to six points.
