CHENNAI: IT was not quite a Valentine’s Day heartbreak for Chennai City but coach V Soundararajan would not have been happy.
Naysayers would argue that a point against bottom-placed Churchill Brothers at home was a decent output, given how poor Chennai have been over the season. But in reality, Churchill was there for the taking at the JN Stadium on Tuesday, just as Mumbai FC was two days before. Soundar and his boys should have done better than an error-strewn 1-1 draw.
It was Chennai who made the better of starts, Soundar going into the game with the same attacking combination of Michael Regin and Charles de Souza. The home team’s first corner came barely a minute into the game, Charles winning one after some excellent work down the left flank. There were shouts for a handball as Churchill tried to clear the ball but nothing came of it.
Churchill too did not take too long to manufacture their first real chance of the game, Chennai keeper Shahinlal Meloli barely managing to keep Brandon Fernandes’ shot out in the ninth minute. But the opening quarter was dominated by the home team.
A mistake from Shahinlal nearly ensured that dominance counted for nothing in the 22nd minute. The keeper’s weak parry rolled right into the path of the onrushing Ghanefo Kromah, who rustled the net, only for the linesman to raise his flag. Chennai then went close, with Edwin Vanspaul and Charles missing chances that should have been tucked away.
Soundar, looking to liven things up front, introduced Brazilian striker Marcos Vinicius for the tiring Regin early in the second half. The Brazilian had an instant impact, a run down the left flank taking him into the box. But his attempted lob was nowhere near the goal. Vinicius’ final shot once again let him down, as has been the case in almost all his appearances for Chennai.
But for all the chances that Chennai created, it was Churchill who opened the scoring. Nigerian Anyiche Celeste conceded a free-kick outside the box for a handball in the 63rd minute. Up stepped Brandon Fernandes, who not long ago was hailed as the next big thing in Indian football. His low free-kick was almost perfect, squeezing past Shahinlal’s outstretched fingers and kissing the side netting on the way in.
Chennai had gone behind in their previous game against Mumbai as well but recovered within a couple of minutes of doing so. The script, it turned out, was not very different on Tuesday. Barely two minutes after conceding, Vinicius’ cross from the left flank found an unmarked Charles in the box, who bundled it in. Churchill players had their arms up in protest as all that had happened while Brandon was lying injured on the ground. But referee Ajitkumar Meitei waved away their protests.
It was a call that Churchill coach Alfred Fernandes was not happy with. “Frankly, that was an infringement on Brandon, he was kicked intentionally and the referee should have awarded a free-kick. But he did nothing and from the resultant free-kick, they scored. But I am not one to judge this,” he said.
The draw takes Chennai within one point of sixth-placed DSK Shivajians while Churchill temporarily move out of the bottom spot on goal difference.
vishnu.prasad@newindianexpress.com