Chennaiyin FC extended its unbeaten run at home against Kerala Blasters FC to nine games with a 1-0 victory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Friday.
Aakash Sangwan found the net for the host — his first in the Indian Super League — right on the hour mark. Farukh Choudhary received a throw from Sangwan and flicked a pass to the Chennaiyin defender who cut across the KBFC defence and sent in a shot with the outside of his left foot, which beat the dives of Marko Leskovic and goalkeeper Karanjit Singh.
KBFC, currently on a five-match winless run, is fourth on the points table with 26 points from 15 games. Owen Coyle’s side lies eighth with 15 points from 14 outings.
The first-half saw both teams finding it tough to piece together productive passes as CFC and KBFC only had 74 and 55% passing accuracy respectively in the period. However, Rafael Crivellaro and Rahim Ali linked well together and tested the KBFC defence a couple of times.
The visitor had to replace custodian Sachin Suresh after he injured himself in the 33rd minute.
The second essay saw CFC dominating proceedings. However, the home side was reduced to 10 men in the 81st minute as Ankit Mukherjee was given a second yellow card for pulling on Karanjit’s jersey.
Ivan Vukomanovic’s team, which missed the services of striker Dimitrios Diamantakos due to an injury he picked up during training, could not equalise despite trying its best.
The result: Chennaiyin FC 1 (Sangwan 60) bt Kerala Blasters FC 0.
