Gritty RBI comes from behind to hold Chennai FC

Chennai FC received a jolt as early as the fifth minute when Olwale Usman was shown a straight red for shoving a RBI forward inside the penalty box. The resultant penalty was easily converted by Shivapriyan. RBI, which got promoted to senior division this year, gave a good account of itself preventing the more fancied Chennai FC from having a clear shot at goal. 

All that changed in the 27th minute when Chennai FC’s foreign import Emmanuel Inibyoh equalised through a neatly taken penalty. In fact, three of the four goals, including the two scored from Chennai, came from the 12-yard spot. Six minutes before the half-time, RBI reclaimed its lead when Shiv Pratap Singh burst forward from the left wing leaving all the Chennai  FC defenders in his wake to score a brilliant goal. 

The second-half witnessed the 10man Chennai FC trying to claw its way back and its efforts bore fruit in the 66th minute, courtesy another penalty, when Emmanuel wrong-footed the RBI goalkeeper to put his team back on level terms. Buoyed by the equaliser, Chennai FC went in pursuit of another goal and could have nearly scored in the injury time when striker Marvoit Horizon had only the goalkeeper to beat but RBI custodian Mohammed was equal to the task and produced a good save. Speaking after the match, Chennai FC manager A Robin Charles Raja felt his team deserevd to get all three points even though it played 85 minutes with a man short. 

“Given that we had to play with only 10-men, I’m happy with a point. That said, we had some chances in the second-half which if taken would have helped us win. With the  league starting at such short notice, we had difficulty assembling the squad,” said Robin. Robin felt his team has a good chance of finishing in the top-four. 

“We have a tough game coming up against Hindustan Eagles on Friday. No match will be easy this time and every point will be crucial in determining the eventual winner,” added Robin. His counterpart, Vijay Karthikeyan, was optimistic that his team will avoid relegation this year. 

“I’m confident in the team we have and unlike what happened two years ago, we aren’t worried about getting relegated. Our aim is to finish higher up the league. The fact that we were able to hold a strong team like Chennai FC suggests that we belong to this level. 

We have two strikers who are yet to join our squad and they will be available for our next match. Their presence will solve our goal-scoring issues,” said Karthikeyan. 

RESULT: RBI 2 (Shivapriyan 5-pen, Shiv Pratap Singh 39) drew with Chennai FC 2 (Emmanuel Inibyoh 27-pen, 66-pen).