Chennaiyin beat Pune to enter ISL 2015 semis

The last time both the teams faced off, Chennaiyin had won 2-1 at the Marina Arena in Chennai. Since then, both teams have had contrasting fortunes – while Chennaiyin corrected a minor dip in form to get in reach of a semi-fnal spot, Pune had lost the plot to seek some minor redemption in this reverse fixture.

Chennaiyin, meanwhile, brought in Mailson, Manuele Blasi and Harmanjot Khabra along with superstar Elano, who had started on the bench in the last match.

Pune started the match brightly with crosses from Adrian Mutu and Fanai Lalrempuia causing trouble to the Chennai defence. Pune got a golden opportunity in the fourth minute with Gurjinder Kumar finding himself free in front of goal. The Indian winger’s right footed effort, however, went straight to Edel in the Chennai goal. Chennai’s first attack of the half came with Mendoza striking a left-footed shot into the goal, only to find Pune custodian Steve Simonsen at the end of it.

As the match progressed, both teams slowed their tempo down to get a grip on the proceedings. Pune were forced into a substitution in the 24th minute with James Bailey suffering an injury after a collision with Mendoza. Wesley Verhoek replaced the midfielder to bring Pune back to full strength. With two minutes to go for the end of the half, Elano made a brilliant curling effort into the goal but a smart save from the Pune custodian denied Chennai’s hopes of going ahead.

Chennai finally found their goal in the 64th minute with Indian striker Jeje Lalpekhlua putting his name on the score sheet. Mendoza’s pass found Jeje in the penalty box and the Indian striker’s effort came off Govind Singh. However, an alert Jeje slotted the rebound home to put Chennai ahead. The Machans from Chennai kept the pressure on the Pune defence from here on with Mendoza and Jeje keeping the defenders busy.

Pune’s efforts to get back into level terms ended with shots from outside the box with no clear cut chances. With only a draw needed for them to confirm their semi-final spot, Chennai resorted to keeping the lead in the last minutes of the match. Unnecessary yellow cards picked up by Elano and Wadoo in the last minutes hurt Chennai as both players miss the next match. Chennai held their nerves in the final minutes to close out the match 1-0 to progress into the semis.