CHENNAI: Sachu Siby made his first start of the ISL season and it turned out to be a nightmare for the youngster, who struggled to cope with the relentless attacks down the right flank by FC Goa as it defeated Chennaiyin FC 3-0 on Sunday.
Aakash Sangwan, who suffered an injury during training earlier this week, was not included in the squad, and it proved to be a costly absence. Early in the first half, Farukh Choudhary lost the ball while trying to be clever in the middle of the pitch. The loose ball was seized by Victor Rodriguez who opened Jay Gupta, who delivered a low cross that was converted first time by Boris Singh Thangjam helping Goa score its first goal. The misery continued as, in the 24th minute, a shot by Rowllin Borges was deflected by Sachu, resulting in Goa’s second goal. Chennaiyin found itself trailing by two goals as halftime approached.
Sachu tried to make amends for his mistakes early in the second half by setting up Vincy Barretto, who failed to find the back of the net sending his shot wide. Minutes later, the forward hit the post. Chennaiyin showed some resilience in the second half after the substitutions of Jordan Murray and Jiteshwor Singh, but the team’s crosses lacked proper connection, preventing Chennaiyin players from capitalising on those opportunities.
The CFC defence was a major talking point of Sunday’s game, as it appeared to be all over the place, at times caught ball watching, and it was later exploited by Goa to score another goal through Udanta Singh.