10-man Chennai City FC stuns Bagan
January 3, 2018, Chennai
Joachim and Shumeiko find the back of the net in the visitors’ 2-1 win
Chennai City FC relied on its foreign recruits to shock Mohun Bagan 2-1 in the I-League on Tuesday.
Jean Joachim and Veniamin Shumeiko scored a goal apiece as a 10-man Chennai City handed the host its first defeat of the season. Chennai City’s second win took it to seven points from as many matches.
Chennai City’s trusted striker Joachim provided the breakthrough in the fifth minute. After youngster Sourav Das lost the ball to Murilo Almeida, the latter powered forward and passed the ball to Joachim on the right.
The Frenchman made no mistake, beating goalkeeper Shilton Paul with a right-footer to stun the home fans.
Bagan started to show better coordination and even made a few penetrations. It was unlucky to miss out on an equaliser in the 27th minute. Abhishek Das put through Sk. Faiaz whose precise pass into the box saw Ansumana Kromah striking the ball immediately. However, it rebounded off the crosspiece.
It was not long before Bagan drew parity. Pradeep Mohanraj, who had made a fine clearance earlier, was guilty of handling the ball on the goalline.
The Chennai City midfielder received a red card and his team conceded a penalty in the 35th minute. Kromah wrong-footed Chennai City custodian Uros Poljanec to make it 1-1. Despite a string of attacks from Bagan, Chennai City, led by the hard-working Almeida, hung on bravely.
A fine effort in the 71st minute enabled the visitors to regain the lead. Almeida won a corner and Kyrgyz- import Shumeiko rose to meet Soosairaj’s shot from the left to score a spectacular goal.
Chennai City came close to scoring another but Timorese Almeida’s shot hit the bar in the closing minutes.
The result: Chennai City FC 2 (Joachim 5, Shumeiko 71) bt Mohun Bagan 1 (Kromah 35).
