Bengaluru share spoils with ten-men Chennaiyin as it ends 1-1

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The Southern Derby between Chennaiyin and Bengaluru ended in a 1-1 draw

Bengaluru failed to regain their lead as they shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw with a ten-men Chennaiyin outfit at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai in their 2022-23 ISL encounter on Friday. 

Roy Krishna drew first blood for the away side in the 5th minute before Prasanth K equalized for Marina Machans at the stroke of half-time. 

Bengaluru coach Simon Grayson fielded an unchanged side that beat NorthEast United 1-0 in their first encounter. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu donned the gloves while the trio of Sandesh Jhingan, Alan Costa, and Aleksandar Jovanovic formed the back three. 

Naorem Roshan Singh, Bruno Ramires, Suresh Wangjam, and Prabir Das played as the midfielders while Sunil Chhetri, Roy Krishna, and Sivasakthi Narayanan shared the striking responsibilities amongst themselves in a 3-4-3 formation. 

Chennaiyin coach Thomas Brdaric, too, named the same starting eleven from his previous match that beat ATK Mohun Bagan 2-1. Debjit Majumder took shelter between the sticks as V Ajith Kumar, Vafa Hakhamaneshi, Fallou Diagne, and Narayan Das shielded the defense. 

Julius Duker, Jiteshwor Singh, Anirudh Thapa, and Prasanth K rotated the balls in the midfield with Rahim Ali and Petar Sliskovic playing as the two strikers in a 4-4-2 formation. 

The Blues made their intentions clear in the opening exchanges of the game when Krishna forayed forward before being brought down outside the box. Bengaluru couldn’t make the most of the resultant free-kick but the Fijian found his name on the scoresheet a minute later when he towered above his marker to nod the ball home from Sivasakthi’s cross. 

Buoyed by the confidence, Suresh Wangjam let a shot loose from outside the box in the 12th minute only for it to trickle wide. Chennaiyin’s skipper Thapa fed a sumptuous pass towards Prasanth in the 15th minute but the former Kerala Blasters player shot it straight into the hands of the Bengaluru goalkeeper. 

The home side almost found the net once again in the 20th minute when Fallou Diagne rose above his marker to angle his header off a corner kick. However, the ball flew inches high. Chennaiyin came the closest to scoring in the 26th minute when Prasanth unleashed a venomous shot from the box. Although it took a deflection, the resultant loose ball was snapped up by Petar Sliskovic whose shot struck the woodwork. 

Bengaluru responded strongly and was wrongly denied a penalty claim when Diagne pushed Krishna inside the box without making contact with the ball five minutes later. The end-to-end action continued in the 40th minute when Sliskovic headed the ball straight into the hands of Gurpreet. 

Chennaiyin’s sustained pressure finally paid dividends in the extra time of the first half when Prasanth collected a pass from Sliskovic and beat the offside trap to nestle the ball into the bottom corner. 

Chennaiyin started from where they left off in the 49th minute when Sliskovic’s shot from the box was collected comfortably by Bengaluru’s custodian off a cross from Jiteshwor. Alan Costa, who scored a goal from a corner-kick in the earlier game, got a chance to repeat his feat in the 57th minute but this time his header was off target. 

The crowd erupted on their feet when Kwame Karikari was brought into the field replacing Petar Sliskovic upfront. The Ghanian almost scored a goal in the 79th minute when he received Anirudh Thapa’s pass from the right flank, turned to beat his marker, and powered a shot with his second touch. However, his final effort was deflected by a Bengaluru defender and goalkeeper Gurpreet collected the final ball with ease. 

Amidst the run of play, Krishna found himself in a one-on-one position with Chennaiyin’s custodian Majumder but the latter came out of the box to palm the ball away in a move which saw him receive the marching orders in the 82nd minute. Having already made all the substitutions, defender Vafa Hakhamaneshi had to wear gloves for the remainder of the match. 

Despite being a man down, Karikari surged forward solo and had a shot at goal from the box in the dying embers of regulation time. However, he skied his effort as the full-time scoreline read 1-1. 

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