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Chennai City FC registered a stunning 2-1 win over table-toppers Minerva Punjab FC to blow the title race wide open at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Coimbatore on Friday afternoon.
Soosairaj opened the scoring as early as in the fifth minute of the match before Chencho Gyeltshen restored the parity in the 26th minute. Chennai City FC’s newly recruited Aleksander Rakic beat the offside trap on the hour-mark to get the lead once again which eventually, proved the difference between the two teams.
Kabir Thaufique continued in between the sticks for Soundararajan’s side, while Veniamin Schumeiko and Dharmaraj Ravanan were paired at the centre of the defence as expected. Skipper Soosairaj was fielded in support of Aleksander Rakic who lead the line for the Southerners.
Last game’s goalscorer Akash Sangwan secured a place in the starting lineup for the table-toppers. Star winger Chencho Gyeltshen had the support from William Opoku upfront as Minerva Punjab FC sought crucial three points which would be a massive leap towards the I-League finish line.
Chennai City FC stunned Minerva Punjab FC five minutes into the match with a hammer-blow from skipper Soosairaj. Edwin Vanspaul’s cross from the right fell to the Indian midfielder inside the box and although his initial shot towards goal was kept out by Kiran Limbu, he made no mistake on his second try to give the home side an unexpected lead.
The early goal was the wake-up alarm that the Minerva Punjab FC players needed. Chencho Gyeltshen started getting involved in the game immediately. In the 15th minute, he nutmegged two Chennai City FC defenders before surging into the box but Kabir was alert to rush off his line and collect the ball before the Bhutanese could get a shot away.
In the 22nd minute, Kabir came up with a brilliant diving save to his right to keep out a curling free-kick effort by William Opoku that looked destined to hit the net.
The much-anticipated equaliser came four minutes later when Amandeep Singh tested the Chennai City FC backline with a long ball into the box for Chencho. The ‘Bhutanese Ronaldo’ brought the ball down with his feet before sending a powerful effort into the net to make it 1-1.
Chennai City FC could have dampened Minerva Punjab FC’s hopes a minute later when Sebastian’s through-ball reached Aleksander Rakic’s feet but the forward placed his shot inches wide of Limbu’s goal.
Soosairaj’s curling free-kick was punched out by Kiran at the stroke of half-time but the scorer of the opening goal soon turned provider at the hour-mark to help Chennai City FC regain their lead. The Indian midfielder’s through-ball found Rakic inside the box and the foreign forward made amends for his earlier miss by slotting the ball home.
A desperate Minerva Punjab FC piled up the pressure in the dying stages of the match but were not able to break open a sturdy Chennai City FC backline who did just enough to register a full-time result that threw the title race wide open.
Chennai City FC leapfrog Churchill Brothers with 19 points from 18 matches whereas the Goan outfit who’ll face Mariners tomorrow are two points shy having played as many matches fewer.
Minerva Punjab FC are still leading the race with 32 points from 17 matches but East Bengal, NEROCA FC and Mohun Bagan all are still very much alive on the title hunt as the I-League is approaching another season when the winner will be decided not before the final match day.
