ISL 2015: Atletico de Kolkata move up to second in table after beating Chennaiyin FC 2-1
Atletico de Kolkata beat Chennaiyin FC at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata, on Wednesday night to move up to second in the table. Goals from Sameehg Doutie and Iain Hume canceled out Raphael Augusto’s first half effort to leave Chennaiyin at the bottom of the table after their sixth defeat this season.
First Half
Atletico de Kolkata started on the front foot, winning most of the possession in the opening minutes of the game, but both sides struggled to create any chances. Elano and Gavilan were heavily involved for both the sides in the first 15 minutes.
A slow start at the Salt Lake stadium meant both sides had no shot on target till the 27th minute when Chennaiyin took the lead through Raphael Augusto. The Brazilian did a quick one-two with Fikru to outsmart Augustin Fernandes to put it past Arminder Singh.
Atletico, who won a couple of fouls in the attacking third, failed to make anything out of it, but had a chance in the 35th minute through Sameegh Doutie, who was clear on goal. But a brilliant tackle by Dhanachandra prevented him from taking a shot on goal.
Fikru had a chance to extend Chennaiyin FC’s lead in the 41st minute and attempted to chip the ball over the goalkeeper, but his shot was poor and it went directly to Amrinder’s gloves. Just before the break, in what looked like one of the most boring halves of football played in the Indian Super League this season, Sameehg Doutie leveled it for the home team after Borja’s free-kick was punched away by Karanjit Singh and it fell to Doutie near the edge of the penalty box who made no mistakes in finding the back of the net.
Second Half
Marco Materazzi decided to bring on Ralte at the start of the second half as Chennaiyin FC started the half more aggressively. Elano had a chance to put Chennaiyin back into the lead in the 49th minute from a Raphael Augusto’s pass, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.
A couple of minutes later, Elano had a free kick from the edge of the penalty box, but his shot hit the wall, and he couldn’t make anything out of the rebound either. Atletico de Kolkata’s first chance of the second half came through Iain Hume in the 58th minute, but his shot was well saved by Chennaiyin FC’s goalkeeper Karanjit Singh.
But it was Atletico de Kolkata who took the lead in the 63rd minute through Hume, who made a brilliant run to connect with Sameehg Doutie’s sublime cross from the right side. 10 minutes later, Hume had another chance to extend the home side’s lead after a back pass from Ralte left Hume clear, but Karanjit Singh did well to come out of his line and clear the ball.
Chennaiyin had a penalty appeal turned down in the 78th minute after Rino Anto seemed to have brought down Raphael Augusto inside the penalty box. Bruno Pelissari was booked for simulation in the 84th minute after he went down easily on the edge of the penalty box, which showed the frustration for the away side.
Chennaiyin FC tried to set up an equalizer in the dying minutes of the game, but failed to come up with anything as Atletico took home all three points.