Chennaiyin eke out victory

Visitors edge FC Goa 1-0

Chennaiyin FC on Thursday managed a 1-0 win over FC Goa to move to the third place in the Indian Super League, thanks to an own goal by defender Narayan Das.

After a goalless first half, Chennaiyin FC created more scoring chances in the second half and the all important goal came in the 52nd minute as the visitors gathered full points.

Chennaiyin thus put themselves in a strong position for a place in the play-off after grabbing the third place with 27 points from 15 matches.

FC Goa came back strongly after conceding the goal and had lot of scoring chances but failed to materialise.

Luck also did not smile on them as the ball hit the woodwork twice and they remained on the sixth place with 20 points from 14 matches.

Chennaiyin made two changes from their last drawn match against Delhi Dynamos, bringing in Bikramjot Singh and Sereno Henrique in place of Keenan and Gavilan. FC Goa, on the other hand, made one change bringing in Brandan Fernandes in place of Manvir Singh.

Chennaiyin created early chances but first Inigo Calderon failed to find his shot on target and later Raphael Augusto, who troubled the rival defence with speedy run, shot straight to keeper Naveen Kumar.

Goa's citadel finally fell in the 52nd minute when Ali failed to clear a simple loose ball inside the box and Francisco was allowed to pick out Nelson at the edge of the box whose venomous strike was parried away by Naveen but only as far as Jeje.

The striker crossed across the face of the goal for Inigo Calderon but the ball hit Narayan Das on the goal line and went in.