Chennaiyin booked their passage into the quarter-finals of the Super Cup with a 2-0 victory over fellow Indian Super League side Mumbai City at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Friday.
CK Vineeth opened the scoring for Chennaiyin with a brilliant long-range curler in the 42nd minute and Jeje Lalepkhlua almost instantly doubled the lead with a well-worked goal.
The match started on a cagey note with both sides battling it out in midfield with chances at a minimum during the opening exchanges. Raynier Fernandes of Mumbai City and Isaac Vanmalsawma of Chennaiyin posed a threat with their pace and trickery.
The first real opening of the game would fall to striker Jeje for Chennaiyin. The forward picked up the ball near the edge of the box. With Lucian Goian standing up to him, he created a yard of space for himself before firing a left-footed shot which went wide of the far post.
A few minutes later, Chennaiyin would have another good opportunity to break the deadlock from a set-piece. Isaac’s free-kick from just outside the box seemed to be heading for the back of the net, however Ravi Kumar was at hand to prevent it.
The Islanders failed to muster up any clear opportunities in the half, with Fernandes’ long-range shot the only effort which tested the palms of Karnajit Singh. Just when it looked like the half would end goalless, Vineeth opened the scoring with a sumptuous finish. The 30-year-old found space outside the penalty box, turned and then fired a shot, which flew into the top corner.
Only a minute later, Jeje doubled Chennaiyin’s lead with another neat finish. This time the Mizo striker got on the end of a well-placed cross from Thoi Singh, before efficiently guiding the ball into the top corner, leaving the goalkeeper with no chance.
John Gregory’s unit were riding high on confidence with the lead and nearly scored a third within minutes of the second period. Vineeth was once again threatening with his clever movement and managed to find a few yards of space from distance before unleashing a fierce drive, which forced Kumar into a fine save.
Mumbai continued to struggle in the second half, failing to break down Chennaiyin’s resolute defence. Goian came closest to pulling a goal back for Mumbai when his long-range attempt nearly creeped into the far post. That proved to be the only notable attempt for Mumbai as the likes of Mailson Alves and Eli Sabia held their fort well to ensure that the South-Indian team finished with a clean sheet.
At the post-match press conference, the two coaches had their say on the match proceedings. The Chennaiyin boss, John Gregory said, “It was a good team performance. I was delighted with Karanjit Singh. Defensively we have been much better over the last three matches in the ISL, both games against Colombo FC brought clean sheets for us, and another clean sheet tonight. It’s a little bit more like the season we had last year where defensively we were very strong.”
The Englishman also appreciated the effort shown by one of the goal-scorers, Jeje, who he hopes will draw further confidence from tonight’s vital contribution.
“Yes, I hope so. Without any question he’s had a difficult season. I’ve often defended him and stood up for him because he’s not been any different than he was in the previous four seasons.
“He’s always been someone who’s always worked hard. He’s a good professional and you can never level at him that he’s not working hard enough. He worked exceptionally hard. He scored a very good goal at a very good time for us. I cannot be anything but happy tonight with the performance and the result,” he said.
Jorge Costa, the Mumbai City FC boss on the other hand, had nothing but positive words on the Islanders’ season.
“I think we made a wonderful season. We finished on the top four. It was our target. We make mistakes during the season but with all the problems we had since the beginning, with our budget, knowing that we were the last to start the season. I told the players that I am very happy and very proud of them. Today, we did our best with the resource we had. We played good. We made mistakes. That’s all to finish the season,” he said.
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