Secondhalf surge sees CFC stay in the hunt for playoffs
Chennaiyin FC received a further boost in its road to qualify for the ISL 10 playoffs after beating Jamshedpur FC 21 at the Nehru Stadium on Thursday.
The Marina Machans, egged on by a respectable home support, started the match on the frontfoot, with Jordan Murray coming close to scoring the opener in the opening 20 minutes.
However, it was Jamshedpur, which silenced the home crowd after scoring against the run of play. In the 22nd minute, Muhammed Uvais’ floating delivery found Rei Tachikawa, who beat CFC keeper Debjit Majumder with a looping header.
The Red Miners almost doubled their lead in the dying minutes of the first half courtesy of Sanan Mohammed, whose effort clattered against the post.
Whatever CFC head coach Owen Coyle said during the halftime talk seemed to strike a chord among his men.
A rejuvenated Chennaiyin took little time to make an impact in the secondhalf.
In the 52nd minute, JFC keeper T.P. Rehenesh committed a blunder.
In a bid to clear the ball, he passed it straight to Rafael Crivellaro, who capitalised on the error by blasting the ball inside the net.
Riding high on the momentum after scoring the equaliser, secondhalf substitute Rahim Ali brought the roof down in the 59th minute — just three minutes after coming on the pitch.
Showing impressive resilience, he ventured inside the JFC box under pressure and kept his calm to dink the ball past an onrushing Rehenesh to seal the win for his team.
The result:
Chennaiyin FC 2 (Rafael Crivellaro 52, Rahim Ali 59) bt Jamshedpur FC 1 (Rei Tachikawa 22).
Other results: $742,350 ATP, Houston: Doubles: Pre-quarterfinals: Arjun Kadhe & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan bt Marcus Daniell (Nzl) & Luis David Martinez (Ven) 6-4, 6-2.
€651,865 ATP, Marrakech: Doubles: Pre-quarterfinals: Boris Arias & Federico Zeballos (Bol) bt Sumit Nagal &
Aleksandar Vukic (Aus) 6-7(5), 6-4, [10-3].
$164,000 Challenger, Mexico City: Doubles: Pre-quarterfinals: Rithvik Bollipalli & Niki Poonacha bt Federico Gaio & Alessandro Giannessi (Ita) 6-3, 7-6(5).
$60,000 ITF women, Split, Croatia: Doubles: Quarterfinals: Valentina Grammatikopoulou (Gre) & Prarthana Thombare bt Anna Rogers (USA) & Olivia Tjandramulia (Aus) 7-5, 6-2.
Pre-quarterfinals: Valentina & Prarthana bt Nigina Abduraimova (Uzb) & Veronica Miroshnichenko 6-4, 7-6(6).
Lena Papadakis (Ger) & Radka Zelnickova (Svk) bt Mariana Drazic (Cro) & Vasanti Shinde 6-3, 7-6(3).
$40,000 ITF women, Kashiwa, Japan: Doubles:
Quarterfinals: Ankita Raina & Chia Yi Tsao (Tpe) bt Sohyun Park (Kor) & Naho Sato (Jpn) 6-3, 6-3.
$25,000 ITF women, Bujumbura, Burundi: Pre-quarterfinals: Alice Robbe (Fra) bt Ashmitha Easwaramurthi 6-1, 7-5.
Doubles: Quarterfinals: Riya Bhatia & Diana Marcinkevica (Lat) bt Shria Atturu (USA) & Abhilasha Bista (Nep) 6-2, 6-3.
$15,000 ITF women, Monastir: First round: Tanisha Kashyap bt Olivia Cameiro (Bra) 6-2, 6-4.