ISL | Chennaiyin FC blanks East Bengal, returns to winning ways in style

Chennaiyin FC’s Shields, centre,celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Chennaiyin FC returned to winning ways after a gap of seven matches as it outplayed home favourite East Bengal FC 3-0 in an ISL fixture at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Saturday.

Chennaiyin took the lead, thanks to East Bengal defender Nishu Kumar’s own goal early before Jordan Gil found the second midway through the opening half. Substitute Chima Chukwu added the third late in added time (90+9) to complete a resounding win.

Chennaiyin grabbed the initiative and launched repeated attacks to find the breakthrough in the 13th minute. The Colombian forward Gil released his teammate Connor Shields up front with a nice through pass. The latter seemed to run too deep inside the East Bengal box but managed to backheel the ball before it went out of play. Nishu Kumar, who was chasing the Scottish forward, sent the ball in while miscuing his attempted clearance. Before East Bengal could recover from the shock, Chennaiyin doubled the lead. This time it was Gil who diverted home a cross from Irfan Yadvad to see Chennaiyin reach a comfortable position before the break.

East Bengal tried to retrieve the situation but its efforts drew a blank as its attackers failed to convert three clear opportunities in the first 20 minutes after resumption of play.

East Bengal was reduced to 10 men in added time when defender Lal Chungnunga received his second booking of the night.

The win helped Chennayin pocket 21 points from 20 matches to keep its playoff hopes alive while East Bengal has 18 from 19 outings.

The results: East Bengal 0 lost to Chennaiyin 3 (Nishu Kumar 13-og, Jordan Gil 21, Chima Chukwu 90+9).

At Hyderabad: Hyderabad 3 (Paulista 24, Ramhlunchhunga 45+1, Sunny 90+6) bt Mohammedan 1 (Chothe 78).