Chennai City Football Club strengthened its title chances with a convincing 3-1 win over Kolkata giant Mohun Bagan in a Hero I-League clash at the Nehru Stadium here on Sunday.
The Chennai City men dished out a double delicacy quite early in the first half. But not before missing out a couple of easy sitters five minutes into the game — Nestor first followed by Edwin Sydney Vanspaul failed to find the back of the net.
But, Nestor shot back to stun the packed holiday crowd with a thundering effort in the seventh minute.
It came from close to the half line and was packed with so much power that the visiting custodian Shilton Paul had no answer. It was without doubt the goal of the season and Nestor heaved a huge sigh of relief after having missed earlier.
Full throttle
He went full throttle from there on and, with it, set up two great passes for Sandro Rodrigues in the 15th minute and then Pedro Manzi in the 23rd to put the team in a position of strength.
William Lalnunfela pulled one back for Mohun Bagan in the 37th to make sure that the team had something to talk about at the first-half break.
Chennai City FC played the second session in a similar fashion and is magical short passes were quite pleasing to the eye. Its men preferred not to relax and looked pretty determined to take home those three points that may well prove crucial for the team in their march for the title.
The Kolkata side showed better understanding both up front and at the back but struggled to disturb the strong Chennai defence. And to add to its woes, its goalkeeper Shilton was flashed the red card for bringing Manzi down right outside the box.
Debutant Real Kashmir on Sunday continued its unbeaten run with a 2-2 draw against Indian Arrows at Bhubaneswar to leave the I-League title race tantalising poised.
The results: Chennai City FC 3 (Nestor Jesus 7, Sandro Rodrigues 15, Pedro Manzi 23) bt Mohun Bagan 1 (William Lalnunfela 37).
At Bhubaneswar: Indian Arrows 2 (Amarjit Singh 78-pen, Rahul K.P. 90+1) drew with Real Kashmir 2 (Kofi Tetteh 82, Mason Robertson 90).
