Match Report: Chennai earn first home win, down Pune 2-1 to go 2nd in the table

BOTH BERNARD MENDY and goal machine Stiven Mendoza found the net for Chennaiyin FC as they managed to earn a well-fought 2-1 win over Pune CIty to mark their first victory at home in this year's ISL. 

The match began with a special little ceremony for both the teams as the Indian Super League introduced the golden boot and golden glove armbands for the players with most goals and clean sheets. The bands went to Chennaiyin striker Stiven Mendoza and Pune City keeper Steve Simonsen. 

Mendoza was one of the six changes that Materazzi made to the starting line-up, including Karanjit Singh making his debut in goal in order to make way for that extra outfield foreigner. Others who got to start were Elano, Raphael, Thoi and Mailson. 

Pune City mostly stuck to their winning combination with only once change in their ranks; misfiring Lenny Rodrigues making way for Manish Maithani. 

The half was dominated by Chennaiyin FC as Pune City hardly got to take a good crack at the goal thanks to the defence working well enough and the return to using Elano as the pivot paying off big time for the home team. Up front, too, it was the home team that was making the more threatening moves.

There was a good chance for Pune early on when Zokora's pass to Yendrick saw the latter take a shot but miss the target.

Golden goalie Simonsen started the game quite well and was the reason why Chennaiyin did not have a multiple goal lead in the first half. In the 20th minute he managed to save an Elano shot with his knee. Then Mendoza got a long ball from Alves, made a long run into the Pune box with Roger trailing him, managed to take a shot under pressure but Simonsen saved it again.

Minutes later Pune City came close when Lyngdoh managed to find Dharmaraj Ravanan inside the Chennaiyin box but the shot went over the target.

Then Chennaiyin took the much awaited lead. Dhanachandra provided a brilliant throw-in that Bernard Mendy managed to head past Simonsen. 

Pune City tried hard to come back and got a couple of chances towards the end of the half. A free kick by Nicky led to Karanjit Singh being put to task for the first time as he ran forward to intervene. Johnson got a good header on it but just about missed the crossbar.

A following corner kick created a scary moment inside the Chennai box the ball reached Wadoo, who fired at the goal but Karanjit made a briliant one handed save to deny him.

The half came to a close at 1-0 with Chennaiyin FC looking firmly in control of the game. And their decision to go back to the Elano-Mendoza combo in the attack paid off big time at the very beginning of the second half as a brilliant through ball from Elano saw Mendoza run his marker off and put it past the keeper, sending Chennaiyin 2-0 up. The goal extended Mendoza's tally as the reigning ISL top scorer to 6 goals in 6 apperarances.

Minutes later Elano came close again with a free kick that just missed the crossbar. The home side was pressing in for an emphatic victory and Pune City needed to make something happen fast.

David Platt made his first move by replacing Yandrick Ruiz with Kalu Uche. Minutes later he followed it up by swapping Manish Maithani for Bikash Jairu.

Eugeneson Lyngdoh was having an especially bad night. He had a good shot at the goal that Karanjit saved easily. Then his run of initiative got blocked by Raphael.

Meanwhile substitutions wre happening all over the place. Adridian Mutu came on for Tuncay Sanli for Pune. Chennai saw Fikru Teferra come on for Mendoza. And immediately, Pune City got one goal back.

Ravanan had sent a cross. Kalu Uche got a header on it that was well saved by Karanjit. The ball came straight to Eugeneson who had an empty net two years away waiting for him but completely missed the ball trying to make an elementary kick. Fortunately the ball went back to Kalu Uche who somehow slotted it in. The score was 2-1 and the game was on.

In the next few minutes Pune threw everything they had into the game to find an equalizer and kept Chennai under constant pressure. 

They won a corner but Bikash Jairu's shot was sub-par. Lyngdoh tried to get a cross into the box but no Pune player managed to get to it. Then he managed to stop a threatening run by Raphael Augusto by bringing him down.

Then it was Mutu in the centre of all the action when he sent a good ball to Jackichand, who sent in a good cross but Karanjit managed to clear it for a corner. Jairu delivered the corner kick directly to Mutu who completely misjudged what should have been an easy header into an empty goal, as the easiest chance of the game went begging for Pune.

And they never came that close again. The match ended in a 2-1 victory for Chennaiyin FC. Although Pune City managed to make some sort of a comeback towards the end, their efforts fell short as their hopes to regain the top spot at the ISL table were dashed in defeat.

For Chennaiyin FC, homecoming was sweet. To some extent this win makes up for the 3-2 loss they endured in the hands of ATK in the first match of the season. And in a poetic ending to that story, Bernard Mendy who was branded a villain for his blunders in that match, played an important part in ensuring his team's win tonight, by putting in a good spell at the defence as well as scoring the first goal that gave Chennai the definite upper hand.

A lot of other things went right for CHennaiyin FC who can call this win a true team effort. But the stand out performance tonight came from Karanjit Singh, whose ISL debut saw him put in a stellar shift in goal, making some great saves under pressure. The strategic implications of Karanjit being a hit goes far for Chennaiyin FC who can now play six foreigners in the outfield without hesitation. 

The win tonight sees them climb to the second spot in the points table with 9 points from 6 matches, their goal difference taking them ahead of Pune City who have a game in hand. 

For Pune City this is definitely not the end of the world. Losing away from home to a strong team like Chennaiyin does not mean a campaign has fallen apart. But what will be bothering David Platt is the fact that he fielded pretty much the best team available to him. And as the away games come thick and fast, fatigue will become an issue (maybe it already is). This may expose a squad depth problem in the team. The one time they tried to heavily rotate ended in a defeat to Delhi Dynamos at home. That is something Platt will have to work around as they prepare for a series of difficult games against Kerala Blasters and Goa, each involving a requirement to travel. 

So as Chennaiyin FC celebrated their first home win of the season, the Pune City camp were under an ominous shadow; both gearing up for what's to come as the ISL title race intensifies with each passing round.