Chennai: Bengaluru FC beat Chennaiyin FC with a 3-1 scoreline at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday in the Hero Indian Super League 2022-23.
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 favor of Bengaluru FC.
Speaking on his side’s defensive mistakes and fighting 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.
