Guyon saves the blushes for Delhi Dynamos

Dynamos’ head coach Miguel Angel Portugal was spot on with his substitutions as the duo of Goyan and Nigerian international Kalu Uche prevented the side from the ignominy of losing seven on the trot. The latter received a deep cross from Jeroen Lumu and a serene header from him helped the Dutchman produce a simple tap in to save its blushes. 

Despite leaking a goal at the business end of the game, the home side moved to 17 points from 9 games, surpassing FC Pune City by a solitary point. The visitor remained at the bottom with four points in its kitty. 

Jeje Lalpehklua had a day to remember as the 'Mizo Sniper' scored a brace on his birthday and also bagged the honour of becoming the highest goal-scorer for Chennaiyin FC across four seasons, outdoing John Stiven Mendoza’s tally of 17. His day would have been absolute had the Dynamos not nicked a last-gasp equaliser in the 90th minute. 

Jeje put his name on the score sheet for the second time in the day by depositing the ball into the top right corner after making a swift turn to launch the strike in his stronger right foot. A probing run from Gregory Nelson and some neat passing by Germanpreet Singh were instrumental in the Season 2 champion taking the lead just six minutes into the second half. 

Earlier, Mailson Alves squandered a free header from a Rene Mihelic free-kick from just outside the 18-yard box. Local lad Nandakumar Sekar produced a peach of a cross with his left foot for David Ngaihte to guide it past the CFC shotstopper Karanjit Singh in the 24th minute. 

Centre forward Jeje pegged one back for the host in the 42nd minute courtesy of a free-kick from Slovenian Rene. A fantastic reflex save by Karanjit off former FC winger Romeo Fernandes prevented Delhi from restoring its lead right after Chennaiyin’s equaliser. The teams were locked up at one each at the end of the first half with the away side enjoying the majority of the possession. 

CFC Assistant coach Mark Lillis made two alterations to the starting line-up with Dhanachandra Singh and Germanpreet replacing the suspended Henrique Sereno and Bikramjit Singh respectively. January signing Spaniard Xabi Irureta was drafted into the eleven for the Dynamos to guard the posts.