I-League 2017: Chennai City win first game under new coach to move off the bottom of the table
After unimpressive results so far, especially on the road, I-League newcomers Chennai City FC had opted for a change of head coach.
Playing under new man V. Soundararajan, the club mustered a spirited come-from-behind victory to beat Mumbai FC 2-1 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Saturday evening to take their points tally to six points, in the process taking them off the bottom of the table.
Mumbai took the lead midway through the first half thanks to a penalty, but goals from Dhanpal Ganesh and Charles De Souza helped the hosts recover and register their second win of the season. Mumbai coach Santosh Kashyap was hurting before the match and said that he had never lost five games in a row as a player and hence he was disappointed, but he couldn't prevent his side from sliding to a sixth straight defeat.
Chennai City went in with four Tamil Nadu players in the starting XI for the first time - Dharmaraj Ravanan captaining the side in central defence, Dhanapal Ganesh and Edwin Sydney in midfield and Michael Regin playing just behind striker Charles De Souza. The club's leading goalscorer, Marcos 'Tank’ Vinicius was relegated to the bench as mentioned ahead of the game by head coach V. Soundararajan.
Mumbai FC opted to go with experienced heads Mehrajuddin Wadoo and Afghan Djelaludin Sharityar in central defence while Densil Theobald ran the midfield. Thoi Singh was still missing from the squad on personal leave.
The home side was the first team to take an aim at goal with striker Charles De Souza attempting one from range in the very first minute. In the ninth minute, the home team fashioned a better opening when Denson Devadas in midfield smartly turned his man and made a run into the box, but between him, Charles and Michael they took too long to take a shot and were dispossessed.
Charles was seeing a lot of the ball, so too Edwin down the right. Ganesh found Edwin with a superb through ball in the box, but a last ditch Djelaludin tackle averted the danger.
Despite Chennai City doing much of the pressing, it was Mumbai who struck first. Off a corner, Debabrata Roy was adjudged to have handled the ball and the referee awarded a penalty in the 27th minute. Brazilian Anderson Da Silva, in as an early substitute just two minutes earlier, stepped up and calmly slotted in the penalty to give the visitors the lead.
The response from the home side though was immediate. After the restart, Charles managed to turn his defender with ease and dashed his way into the box where a good shooting opportunity presented itself. Wadoo, though, was across swiftly to block the shot and concede a corner.
Off the corner, Edwin delivered a superb ball into the box which Ganesh rose superbly to meet and head into the top left corner, leaving the Mumbai defence flat-footed. There were few chances in the remainder of the half, but Chennai City did get a very good one when Charles and Denson did well to play Prashanth in on the left. The winger's shot after cutting back was deflected wide by the defender.
Mumbai started the second brightly earning a free-kick just outside the box. Anderson took it and it was on target, but was tipped over by the Chennai City keeper. The pattern of the first half though continued to play out as Chennai City, with their dominance in midfield attacked more, while Mumbai tried to catch them off on the break.
Chennai City threatened twice before the hour mark - Denson with a good shot from outside tested the keeper and Edwin after being played through by Charles into the box tested Laxmikant Kattimani in goal again.
Charles was relentless up front, putting in a tireless display and he managed to finally force his way through for a goal in the 69th minute. After receiving a pass from midfield, Charles broke through two tackles but still managed to keep the ball with him in the box. Kattimani had come off his line to clear the danger, but Charles managed to poke the ball past him leaving him with an empty net to pass the ball into.
The game turned scrappy after that and Charles’ goal proved to be the winner. The Mumbai coach Kashyap rang a few changes to change things, but they didn't pay off.
Chennai City's new coach, Soundararajan, attributed the win to the players’ hard work and some of the specific strategies they worked on.
The Mumbai coach, Kashyap, once again mentioned “silly mistakes” as the reason for the reverse.