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10-man Chennaiyin FC Under-18s came from behind to beat Chennai City FC 3-2 in an Under-18 Youth League fixture at the Chettinad Sarvaloka Education School Ground today. Trailing 0-2 at the break after having lost captain Saurabh Meher to an early sending off, Chennaiyin FC mounted an impressive second-half comeback courtesy goals from Joy Kumar, Prasanna Kumar and Vijay Thangavel to notch their third consecutive win of the season.
Chennaiyin FC made three changes to the side that romped FC Madras 9-0 in their previous outing last month. Hendry Antonay, Kartik Nayyar and Yunus Shaikh came in for Ajin Tom, Sathish Kumar and Selvaniranjan.
Chennaiyin FC enjoyed majority of the possession in the opening stages. Mohammed Sarif Khan and Aman Chetri had half chances for them as opponents Chennai City FC came close to scoring with an effort that clattered the Chennaiyin FC crossbar.
The hosts then took the lead in the 8th minute after Sarif fouled an opponent just outside the Chennaiyin FC box. Syed Taha stepped up for the hosts and scored from a straightforward attempt, which Chennaiyin FC goalkeeper Lourdhu Divyanathan failed to parry away.
Minutes later Chennaiyin FC skipper Saurabh Meher was shown a straight red for dissent, following an exchange of words with the linesman. But despite going a man down, Chennaiyin FC continued to create chances and had two gilt-edged chances to draw level.
The first of the chances fell to forward Vijay Thangavel, who was put through by Aman following a raking cross-field pass by Sarif. The Chennaiyin FC No. 23 dwelled too long on the ball before firing over. His strike-partner Aman then missed from point-blank range a few minutes later after some good work by Joysana Singh in the build-up.
Chennai City FC then doubled their lead much against the run of play. Chennaiyin FC lost the ball in midfield and were caught out on the break with Vineeth Kumar scoring for the hosts.
Chennaiyin FC continued to knock on the Chennai City FC door looking to pull one back. Joysana drew a good save out of the opposition keeper with a close-range header from Ajith’s cross as Chennaiyin FC went into the break trailing 0-2.
Chennaiyin FC finally found their scoring touch after the restart, pulling one back just before the hour mark. A Harsh Bartwal free-kick from the right fell to second-half substitute Joy Kumar, whose fierce strike went in off the upright.
Chennaiyin FC drew level soon after, with another second-half change Prasanna Kumar finding the back of the net. The Chennaiyin FC No. 19 turned and arrowed his shot into the bottom corner after receiving the ball from a long throw-in by Sarif.
Sarif was involved yet again as Chennaiyin FC completed the second-half turnaround. The Manipur boy’s inch-perfect long pass put Vijay in on goal, who was left with just the Chennai City FC keeper to beat. He made no mistake as he took a touch and kept it low to put his side 3-2 up.
10-men Chennaiyin FC U-18s held on to see it through to the final whistle, capping off an impressive second-half display.
The Chennaiyin FC U-18s take on Chennai City FC in the reverse fixture at the SSN College Ground on Tuesday, November 20 at 3:30pm.
