Two second half goals fetched Chennai City FC a hard-earned 2-0 victory over a spirited Indian Arrows in their I-League encounter at the Kalinga Stadium here on Friday.
Spaniard Sandro Rodriguez and substitute N. Vijay found the target. The much-needed win helped Chennai, which had lost its previous match to Real Kashmir, leapfrog the latter to the top spot with 33 points and stay in the title hunt.
Arrows deserved appreciation for fighting tooth and nail as a unit to keep a stronger opposition at bay in the first half.
Even as action mostly happened in the Arrows’ half with Chennai pushing from both flanks, the young lads ran with purpose to tackle, intercept, block and clear Chennai’s attempts and deny the visitors any free-flowing move.
Chennai gathered several corners but could not find success, while Arrows banked on occasional counter-attacks from the right but hardly posed any threat.
Chennai was close to scoring at least on two occasions. Nestor Jesus’s beautiful lob set up Pedro Javier but the Chennai captain could not capitalise on the opportunity in the 27th minute.
Pedro was again frustrated as he could not grab a chance close to the breather.
Chennai applied more pressure in the second half and tasted success in the 70th minute. Sandro’s flat and powerful free-kick from just outside the box got deflected in via custodian Samik Mitra — who did well as Prabhsukhan Gill’s replacement.
The opening goal broke Arrows resistance and Vijay slotted in a loose ball from close in the 90th minute to add some respectability to the scoreline.
“We need to give credit to Arrows for the way they defended. We must look at ourselves — how we can create more chances and how can we be more clinical,” said Chennai coach Akbar Nawas.
The result: Chennai City FC 2 (Sandro 70, Vijay 90) bt Indian Arrows 0.
