Teetering on the edge of elimination, Chennaiyin FC produced yet another masterful display, dismantling the famed Delhi Dynamos defence, with a thumping 4-0 win in their Hero-Indian Super League encounter at the Nehru Stadium here on Tuesday.
With its second successive big-margin victory, Chennaiyin has made its intentions loud and clear. A goal difference of six will come in handy in what looks like a tight league phase.
With 16 points from 12 matches, Chennaiyin is still not out of the woods. It has to win two more matches — Mumbai City FC (at home) and FC Pune City (away).
Dynamos remain at 18 points from 11 matches.
For a brief while, Dynamos successfully resisted the Chennaiyin raids. Then along came John Stiven Mendoza to break the deadlock. A long ball from Jeje went straight at ’keeper Antonio Doblas Santana, with only Anas Edathodika for company. Strung for options, Doblas attempted to head the ball away, only to see it go to Mendoza, who gleefully lobbed it into the net.
In only his third start of the season (10 appearances), Bruno Pelissari proved his versatility as an attacking midfielder. Filling the big shoes of Elano is no child’s play, but the 22-year-old Brazilian has proved he is no spring chicken.
A blistering three-pronged counterattack mounted by Pelissari, Mendoza and Jeje saw the Indian hitting it straight to the ’keeper. Off the rebound, Pelissari unleashed a left-footer that fetched him his first goal of the season.
The four-man defence of Adinga Ralte, John Arne Riise, Anas Edathodika and Souvik Chakraborty came a cropper, finding it extremely difficult to stem Chennaiyin’s raids.
Central midfielder Florent Malouda, did make valiant attempts to cut through the host’s defence, but the attack upfront, comprising Robin Singh and Adel Nabi, turned out to be woefully inadequate.
The third goal, which came with five minutes remaining in the first half, extinguished whatever hopes Dynamos harboured, Jeje making the most of a wonderful assist from the left by Mendoza.
Central midfielder Raphael Augusto was the fulcrum around which Chennaiyin moved today. He also played a part in the fourth goal scored by Jeje.
This was also the first match in which the host has not conceded a goal.
Chennaiyin made one change from the last match. Instead of central defender Potenza, who is serving a suspension, it brought in Mailson Alves. On the other hand, Dynamos retained the eleven from the last match.
The result: Chennaiyin FC 4 (John Stiven Mendoza 17, Bruno Pelissari 21, Jeje 40 & 54) bt Delhi Dynamos 0.
