ISL 2022-23: Spirited 10-man Chennaiyin FC hold rivals Bengaluru FC to 1-1 draw

Archrivals Chennaiyin FC and Bengaluru FC had to settle for a point each in their Hero Indian Super League ISL encounter that ended 11 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on FridayRoy Krishna scored inside five minutes to give the Blues an early advantage but Prasanth Karuthadathkuni scored at the stroke of halftime to restore parity The Marina Machans finished the game with ten men after goalkeeper Debjit Majumder was sentoff late in the second halfIt did not take long for the first goal as Roy Krishna silenced the stands of the Marina Arena in the fourth minute From the right flank Siva Narayanan bent a cross into the box with the outside of his right foot Krishna nestled the ball into the Chennayin FC net with a sublime glancing header From there on it was the home team that took control of the game for large parts of the gameThe Marina Machans had a marvellous opportunity to square things up in the 15th minute Ajith Kumar cut the ball back from inside the box to Prasanth Karuthadathkuni The midfielders strike was straight at Gurpreet Sandhu who caught the ball with ease Had the shot been placed on either side of the goalkeeper Chennaiyin would have been levelAlso Read ISL Dominant Hyderabad FC defeat NorthEast United 30In the 26th minute Karuthadathkuni wriggled into the Bengaluru FC box before getting thwarted by the defence The ricochet flew towards Petar Sliskovic who rattled the crossbar with a closerange volley Less than five minutes later Krishna went down in the box under pressure from Fallou Diagne The striker was livid after the referee did not point to the spotAfter Bengaluru FCs opener Chennaiyin FC kept the ball well but could not apply the decisive touch in the final third Five minutes from halftime Jiteshwor Singh swung in a perfectly weighted ball into the Bengaluru box from the right side before Sliskovics header was brilliantly saved at pointblank range by SandhuThe pressure paid off in the final minute of firsthalf stoppage time Sliskovic beat his marker and put Karuthadathkuni through on goal The former Kerala Blasters man beat the offside trap and made no mistake in putting the ball past Sandhu with the last kick of the first half as the Marina Arena came back to lifeJiteshwor and Sliskovic seemed to be on the same wavelength for the majority of the game The duo combined well in the final third causing problems for the Blues defence Four minutes into the second half Jiteshwor found Sliskovic with a welltimed throughball The strikers goalbound shot was saved by Sandhu Three minutes later Sandhu produced another good save to deny the Croatian after he headed the ball on target from Jiteshwors crossIn the 79th minute substitutes Ninthoinganba Meetel and Kwame Karikari combined and almost gave the hosts the lead but Karikaris strike was saved by Sandhu Eight minutes from time Chennaiyin FC were reduced to ten after Debjit Majumder took Krishna out just outside the box and received his red cardIranian defender Vafa Hakhamaneshi took over goalkeeping duties for Chennaiyin FC till the fulltime whistle In the third minute of stoppage time Karikari sprinted toward the Bengaluru goal before firing his shot highThe Marina Machans will stay in Chennai for their next game against FC Goa on October 21 The Blues will be on the road again as they visit defending champions Hyderabad FC on October 22This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever