Chennaiyin FC and Odisha FC dished out an exciting brand of football, making up for a sedate goalless first session and sharing four goals between them in the second half of their Indian Super League (ISL) match at the Nehru Stadium here on Thursday.
Chennaiyin striker Nerijus Valskis’ brace went in vain as Odisha came back twice from arrears to share the honours.
Just when the home fans were raising the decibel levels for a second successive win came the equaliser from Adriane Santana. The Spaniard’s powerful left-footer found the back of the net, silencing the spectators.
Earlier, Valskis reposed the faith coach John Gregory had in him with a double strike. With the match interestingly poised at 1-1, Valskis produced a fantastic finish, heading home off a flag kick from Dragos Firtulsecu.
After a lukewarm first half, largely dominated by the visitors, Chennaiyin showed renewed vigour in the second. It looked much more organised, enjoyed more ball possession and created more opportunities too.
A few minutes into the second half, Chennaiyin tore into the Odisha defence to score the first goal. Rafael Crivellaro’s pass from the middle saw Anirudh Thapa square it to Thoi Singh on the right. Thoi’s pass saw an unmarked Valskis fire past Odisha ’keeper Arshdeep Singh.
Striking back
Odisha equalised through Xisco Hernandez immediately. A powerful strike from the right by Jerry saw the ball ricochet off the ’keeper and into the path of Xisco who made no mistake.
Though Valskis made it 2-1 in the 71st minute, Santana spoiled Chennaiyin’s party with a goal in the 82nd.
Chennaiyin retained the team which had beaten Hyderabad FC recently while Odisha made one change, Vitin Rai coming in for Martin Guedes.
The draw saw Chennaiyin move to eighth with five points from six matches while Odisha remained sixth with six points from six.
The result: Chennaiyin 2 (Nerijus Valskis 51 & 71) drew with Odisha FC 2 (Xisco Hernandez 54, Adriane Santana 82).
