Bengaluru snaps winless run with victory over Chennaiyin
VASCO: Bengaluru FC defeated Chennaiyin FC 4-2 at the Tilak Maidan here on Thursday to snap a seven-match winless streak in the Indian Super League 2021-22.
Mirlan Murzaev (4’) helped Chennaiyin take the lead before Bengaluru scored twice through Cleiton Silva (39’ P) and Alan Costa (43’) albeit riding on a bit of luck. Rahim Ali (49’) got CFC level, but substitutes Udanta Singh (70’) and Pratik Chowdhary (74’) ensured BFC’s wretched run in ISL Season 8 came to an end.
The designated ‘home’ team was off to a perfect start as Mirlan fired home in just the fourth minute after Germanpreet Singh set him up on the left flank. The 31-year-old racked up his second goal this season with a crisp finish after evading Costa and Parag Shrivas.
Bengaluru needed a bit of luck to get back into the match and that came in the form of a penalty after a Ashique Kuruniyan shot hit Jerry Lalrinzuala’s hand.
Cleiton stepped up, paused in his runup and slammed the ball to the bottom right corner. Four minutes later, BFC doubled its advantage after a Cleiton corner went in off Costa’s shoulder as Vishal Kaith needlessly came out of his line. Bengaluru’s lead was cut short soon after the restart due to poor goalkeeping by Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
The India No.1 failed to make a routine save from Rahim, who shot after being teed up by Mirlan. For the third BFC goal, Sunil Chhetri passed the ball to Danish Farooq, who slipped it to Udanta for the winger to fire home from just outside the box. Kaith was responsible for handing Bengaluru a two-goal cushion as he let slip a regulation catch from a corner that fell to Pratik, who scored with ease.