ISL: FC Pune City 1-1 Chennaiyin FC - 5 talking points

In an entertaining encounter at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Shivaji Stadium in Pune, Chennaiyin FC were held to a 1-1 draw by a resilient FC Pune City. Kostas Katsouranis put Pune in front as early as the 9th minute. A slew of chances fell to both teams – a majority to Chennai – but it wasn’t until the 57th minute that John Stiven Mendoza restored parity.Pune went into the encounter on a high, with their previous two fixtures being wins against NorthEast United and Atletico de Kolkata, while Chennai had home draws against the same two teams. Chennai will go on to their next game against Atletico de Kolkata still wondering how they were unable to get three points from this fixture. Here are the five major talking points from the game:

#1 End-to-end beginning to the game

Chennaiyin FC had lost their last away match 4-1 in Delhi. That night, things went pear-shaped very early. Marco Materazzi was determined not to let that happen on this occasion as Chennai raced out of the blocks. A neat pass from Elano set up John Stiven Mendoza, whose swerving shot was somehow kept out by Arindam Bhattacharya. 

Pune however, were not to be left behind. Israil Gurung’s fantastic cross was tapped home by Kostas Katsouranis, and Pune had taken the lead very much against the run of play. Chennai though had plenty more chances in the first half to draw level, but failed to take any of them.