GUWAHATI, Oct 20: Chennaiyin FC finally broke the jinx of never having won a match against NorthEast United in the three season long history of the Indian Super League with a 1-0 victory at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Sarusajai here today.
Both the teams had their share of chances although the visitors enjoyed a better ball possession in the first half. Chennaiyin were somewhat the more potent side with Subrata Paul having had to come to his side�s rescue on a number of occasions.
Romaric decided to have a go on the target from around 40 yards but that wasn�t a problem at all for Chennaiyin FC custodian Karanjit Singh as he collected it with ease in the 10th minute.
Mehrajuddin Wadoo from the right flank provided Davide Succi with a fine opportunity but he made a complete mockery of the situation and NorthEast FC glovesman Subrata Paul was quick enough to deny the visitors an early lead in the 17th minute.
NorthEast United�s Argentinean recruit Nicolas Velez provided local boy Holicharan Narzary with a good diagonal pass only to witness the latter providing Katsumi Yusa with a fine opportunity inside the box in the 18th minute. However, the South Korean midfielder was well blocked by Bernard Mendy.
Having received a free kick against NorthEast United�s marquee Didier Zokora, Maurizio Peluso who stepped in to take the set piece blasted it straight to Subrata Paul who parried it to Hans Mulder. Mulder�s header went above the cross bar by some margin in the 28th minute to give the full packed home crowd some sigh of relief.
Switching sides, Chennaiyin didn�t take much long to surge ahead as Siam Hanghal�s fine lobbed pass was well volleyed into the net by their Italian forward Succi in the 48th minute. Succi�s powerful strike from inside the box saw Paul diving to his left but couldn�t stop the ball from finding the back of the net.
Receiving a free kick from around 25 yards, Romaric�s full blooded strike went wide of the target by some margin in the 58th minute.
NorthEast came close to equalising in the 61st minute but Holicharan Narzary failed to reach in time. Yusa making his way from the left flank set the ball up for Narzary with an absolute scoring opportunity but Jerry Lalrinzuala did well to clear it.
NorthEast dominated throughout the later half of the match but couldn�t find the desired result. Playing in the absence of their fleet footed forward Nicolas Velez who had to be substituted owing to an injury seemed to have had an impact on the result.
