ISL 2022-23: Bengaluru FC edge past Chennaiyin FC 3-1

Despite
Chennaiyin
FC
starting
the
match
brightly
and
displaying
a
strong
attacking
intent,
Bengaluru
FC
struck
thrice
inside
the
first
half.

The
home
side
opened
the
scoring
against
the
run
of
play
when
Roy
Krishna’s
long
ball
caught
the
visitors’ defence
off
guard
and
allowed
Sivasakthi
Narayanan
to
slot
the
ball
home
and
put
his
side
in
front
in
the
15th
minute.

Chennaiyin
had
the
opportunity
to
equalise
in
the
20th
minute
when
Ninthoinganba
Meetel’s
cross
found
Petar
Sliskovic
but
his
header
narrowly
missed
the
target.
Three
minutes
later,
Narayan
bagged
his
second
of
the
match
after
taking
advantage
of
the
opposition’s
defensive
error
in
the
23rd
minute
and
Rohit
Kumar
further
added
a
third
in
the
30th
minute
to
further
extend
the
hosts
before
the
break.

Chennaiyin’s
decision
of
making
three
changes
at
half-time
paid
off
as
substitute
Edwin
Vanspaul
pulled
one
goal
back
at
the
hour
mark.
Jiteshwor
Singh
played
a
smart
pass
to
find
Vanspaul
who
scored
his
first
league
goal
of
the
ongoing
season
with
a
thumping
left-footed
finish
in
the
top
corner
in
the
59th
minute.

This
goal
helped
Chennaiyin
gain
momentum
and
their
attacking
surges
saw
them
come
close
to
scoring
a
second
on
multiple
occasions.
But
they
failed
to
find
the
back
of
the
net
as
the
southern
derby
finished
in
favour
of
Bengaluru
FC.

Speaking
on
his
side’s
defensive
mistakes
and
fight
for
a
top-six
finish,
Chennaiyin’s
head
coach
Thomas
Brdaric
said,
“We
conceded
three
goals
in
the
first
half
after
inviting
the
opponent
with
our
errors.
In
the
second
half,
we
changed
ourselves
and
won
the
half
1-0.
However,
we
are
not
close
anymore
to
sixth
place
but
we
have
to
fight
as
we
still
have
the
hope
that
with
15
points
we’ll
be
able
to
reach
our
targets.”

Chennaiyin
FC
will
now
host
Odisha
FC
at
the
Jawaharlal
Nehru
Stadium
on
February
2
while
Bengaluru
FC
will
travel
to
face
ATK
Mohun
Bagan
on
February
5.