Bengaluru: It was harder than envisioned. But in the end, natural order prevailed as Bengaluru FC produced a dominant display and came away 2-0 winners against Chennai City FC in their I-League clash at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, on Saturday.
Substitutes Roby Norales and C.K. Vineeth scored a goal apiece, a debut goal for the former, in space of two minutes late in the second half to fire the Garden City club to victory.
With two wins in two, the defending champions retained their spot at the top of the table, albeit on goal difference, being level with Mohun Bagan at six points.
Albert Roca, whose substitutions changed the game, switched to a single pivot in defensive midfield with Lenny Rodrigues running the game from the deep. Mandar Rao Desai was handed his first start for the club while Cameron Watson dropped to the bench.
BFC was in the front foot from the get go, forcing Chennai to drop deep and often play six across the defence.
The first chance fell as early as sixth minute when Lenny sought out Harmanjot Khabra with a sweeping ball allowing the right back to free Udanta Singh behind the defence with a delicate touch. The nippy winger’s pull back was then almost turned into his own goal by Dhanapal Ganesh.
BFC kept going for the jugular and almost found the net six minutes later when Mandar’s sparkling run and cross reached Udanta who found Daniel Lalhlimpuia only to see the striker’s effort force a reaction save from Karanjit Singh in goal.
Karamjit keeps hosts at bay
The home side created hordes of chances but it was only a combination of luck, some last ditch clearances and Karanjit’s heroics that kept the game level going into half-time.
The visitors did little to get themselves out of the predicament as weak clearances allowed BFC to start attacks high up the pitch. Meanwhile at the other end, Chennai’s Brazilian striker Marcos Tank, often found offside, gave a good account of his namesake with a display that showed little mobility.
The second half saw the game slow down with Chennai choosing to sit deep and absorb pressure even as the defending champions pushed and prodded for the opener.
Visiting coach Robin Charles Raja put an end to Tank’s miserable night soon even as Roca brought in Norales at the hour mark and Vineeth soon after.
Inspiring sub moves
The substitutions proved inspired as Norales finally broke the deadlock in the 77th minute when the I-League newcomers were punished for their inability to clear a free-kick, allowing the Honduran to knock in the opener.
Two minutes later, fellow sub Vineeth added the second when he checked his run to lose the marker and connected with Udanta’s cross to put the home side 2-0 up.
Thereafter the match crawled on with only couple of questionable challenges from Michael Rejin among the talking points.
