Nandhakumar Sekar's strike separates East Bengal FC and Chennaiyin FC in a tightly-contested ISL 2023-24 affair
Licking their wounds after the heartbreak in Jamshedpur, East Bengal FC roared back in ISL 2023-24 with a clinical 1-0 victory over Chennaiyin FC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Monday.
While the Marina Machans showed an impetus to secure the three points in the initial exchanges, they ultimately paid the price of squandering their opportunities. Nandhakumar Sekar, who has taken a liking for scoring crucial goals, broke the deadlock right after the hour mark for Carles Cuadrat's team.
The form charts, positioning on the table, and most importantly, the performances of two outfits hinted towards an equally contested affair awaiting us even before the first whistle. However, the Red and Gold Brigade surprisingly opted for a defense-first, extremely cautious approach against the Chennai-based club, who had scored just a single goal in their last five league appearances.
With East Bengal more than happy to sit back and clear their lines, the Marina Machans were all over the hosts right from the initial exchanges. But similar to the clash against Mumbai City FC, their sloppy movement in the final third ultimately hampered their attacking output. Their first effort on target came in the 11th minute when Aakash Sangwan's cross found Jordan Murray inside the box. But the latter's effort was comfortably gobbled up by Prabhsukhan Singh Gill.
Half-chances kept cropping up for Owen Coyle's men but at the end of the first half, it all meant nothing as East Bengal walked unscathed into the break, level on terms.
Chennaiyin FC punished in the second half for their lack of decisiveness against East Bengal FC
Carles Cuadrat had realized the vanity of his conservative approach and opted for wholesale changes. Felicio Brown, Nishu Kumar, and Mohammed Rakip were all taken off to be replaced by Vishnu PV, Mandar Rao Desai, and Alexsandar Pantic. Not that it completely altered their approach, but it made East Bengal a lot more stable in the middle of the park.
Vishnu was a blistering addition to the East Bengal attack line and his incessant runs down the right channel made Chennaiyin uncomfortable on the break. As the crowd at Salt Lake Stadium had just smelled the altering momentum, the Torchbearers struck in the 65th minute through Nandhakumar.
Victor Vazquez, eyeing Cleiton Silva in the middle, whipped in a curling cross, however, after bouncing off a Chennaiyin FC defender, the ball ended on the boots of Nandhakumar at the far post. Despite the unfavorable angle, the winger took a bite at the cherry, and defender Bikash Yumnam's boot ended up deflecting the ball into the back of the net.
In the second straight match, Chennaiyin FC were punished for their indecisiveness in front of the goal and East Bengal ended up grabbing an unlikely lead. For the rest of the regulation time and the seven minutes added on later, the Marina Machans lacked the intent of a team hungry for the three points. And the Kolkata giants needed no second invitation to see off what promises to be a crucial victory in their knockout bids.
Both East Bengal and Chennaiyin will next face Odisha FC in ISL 2023-24 on February 29 and March 3, respectively.