Bengaluru Register Convincing 3-0 win over Chennaiyin.© ISL
Udanta Singh’s scored a goal at both ends of half-time to help Bengaluru FC to a convincing 3-0 win and destroy Chennaiyin FC’s hopes of top of the table in the Indian Super League on Wednesday. Iman Basafa opened the floodgates for Bengaluru, who missed first-choice goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, while Lara Sharma came in for the star shot stopper. Basafa converted from the spot in the 12th minute before Udanta made it 2-0 in the 42nd minute. The fast winger also struck in the 52nd minute to take the game from Chennaiyin and push his side to sixth on the table with 17 points from 13 games.
Chennaiyin remained fifth with 18 points from 13 matches, but a win would have put them at the top of the list with Hyderabad FC with 20 points from 12 matches.
It had been a frenetic few minutes at the Athletic Stadium here after the Southern Derby got underway as both teams seemed desperate to nose forward. Chennaiyin had a great chance in their attempt to take the early lead, but Lukasz Gikiewicz’s shot from close range bounced off the crossbar and went out.
Two minutes later, Bengaluru was awarded a penalty for a foul by Sunil Chhetri in the penalty area.
Basafa stepped up to take the spot and made no mistake, mistaking the keeper with a glorious penalty that thundered into the top left corner.
Chennaiyin tried his best to equalize with Germanpreet Singh and Vladimir Koman who tried their luck but to no avail as both attempts went wide.
Just before half time, Bengaluru doubled the lead. Chhetri was at the heart of the move, and the iconic Indian captain showed composure and selflessness of the highest order as he dummied his goal, slashed his left and put the ball on a plate for Udanta to score.
After the break, Bengaluru started to dominate the match and soon got their reward as Udanta doubled his score with a cool finish and Debjit Majumder rounded into Chennaiyin’s goal after snatching the ball from Mohd Sajid Dhot while Slavko Damjanovic was there failed to avert the danger.
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From then on it was Blues, as Prince Ibara and Rohit Kumar saw their efforts fail.
Chennaiyin had no attacking instinct beforehand until Lallianzuala Chhangte forced Lara into a great save to sum up a good day in the office for Bengaluru. PTI AH SSC SSC
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