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Chennaiyin FC quells NorthEast challenge
The loss to FC Goa already seems an age ago. Weighed down by the cumbersome burden of history and bogged down by criticism of its lacklustre beginning, which was a little too harsh, Chennaiyin FC threw the three-year-old monkey off its back by beating its nemesis NorthEast United FC 3-0 for the first time at the Nehru Stadium on Thursday.
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Chennai
Until Thursday’s match, NorthEast had proved to be much more than a thorn in Chennaiyin’s flesh.
Keen on notching up his first win, Chennaiyin manager John Gregory effected three changes to the starting eleven with the most notable being the inclusion of local lad Dhanpal Ganesh, who made a winning debut to his Chennaiyin career.Â
That Gregory was able to walk his pre-match talk of rewriting history was made possible owing to his players responding in the manner he expected them to.
Egged on by a partisan crowd, the home team maintained its vice-like grip over the proceedings and not once did it let go of it.Â
Chennaiyin didn’t have to wait long for the arrival of the first goal and it came from a deflection off NorthEast defender Abdul Hakim from a powerful shot by Raphael Augusto in the 11th minute.Â
Its defence was rarely tested and the few times it was, it held firm and looked assured of itself, unlike in the previous match.
Augusto was again in the thick of action and on this occasion he didn’t need any favour from his opponents as he positioned himself perfectly before rifling in a left-footer past the NorthEast goalkeeper TP Rehenesh in the 24th minute.Â
Gregory Nelson made probing crosses and supplied passes with elan. A beautiful free-kick from just outside the box by Jaime Gavilan grazed the crossbar but before it could be cleared forward Mohammed Rafi headed it in to cap a rewarding night for his team.
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