Chennai, Feb 17:
Chennaiyin FC ended their three-match-long losing streak with an essential 1-0 victory over Kerala Blasters FC here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in the Indian Super League (ISL) match on Friday night.
The Kochi-based outfit succumbed to their third straight loss as their mishitting form since the resumption of the league is now further troubled with the injury to their goalkeeping mainstay Sachin Suresh.
Coming out of his line to clear a cross directed towards Farukh Choudhary, Sachin ended up hurting his shoulder and had to be substituted out to bring Karanjit Singh into the field in the 37th minute.
Kerala Blasters FC has already been affected by injuries to Adrian Luna and Kwame Peprah, which has cut down the dynamism their frontline operated with in the first half of this campaign. Even the attacking unit spearheaded by Fedor ?ernych and Ishan Pandita was unable to function in cohesion, barely troubling the Chennaiyin FC defence.
They shot twice on target, but it was a game primarily battled out in the midfield, with even the decisive goal by Aakash Sangwan in the 60th minute coming as a result of a quick routine through a throw-in.
On the left side of the field, the Brazilian playmaker threw the ball in through the touchline which was well collected by Farukh. The attacker showed promising hold-up play and turned a bit on the right and then laid up a pass for Sangwan inside the box.
The 28-year-old was on the move, controlled the ball with his first touch and hammered it past Karanjit to get Chennaiyin FC ahead in the game by shooting accurately from close range.
The victory has shot Chennaiyin FC to the eighth spot from the 11th, and they are now merely two points (15) behind the sixth-placed Jamshedpur FC (17) despite playing two fewer games (14) than them (16).
