Chennaiyin FC register first win of the campaign by beating FC Goa 2-0 at home

THE DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Chennaiyin FC tasted victory for the very first time tonight when they defeated last year's finalists FC Goa 2-0 at the Marina Arena tonight. Both goals came in the first half. 

A defensive mistake allowed Hans Mulder to get Raphael Augusto's pass and push through almost undetected and have enough time and space to put one past FC Goa keeper Laxmikant Kattimani quite easily. That was barely 15 minutes into the game and gave the home team the lead. 

And they did not have to wait too long to double that lead. A ball from Baljit reached Mehrajuddin Wadoo who let fly, and the ball took a deflection off Dumas which caused it to go well out of Kattimani's reach. It was 2-0 in 25 minutes.

For the rest of the game, it was a matter of protecting that lead. Chennaiyin FC did so without too many mistakes. FC Goa did get chances to get back into the game, especially the one where goalscorer Wadoo mis-passed the bll to Rafael who had a clear sight of the goal but shot it wide. A number of shots kept Chennai keeper Karanjit Singh busy, but ultimately failed to find a way past him.

This win is the first in the campaign for Chennaiyin FC, and allowed them to move up to the 5th place in the points table, with 4 points from 3 games. FC Goa, meanwhile, have had a terrible start to their campaign, losing all 3 of the games that they have played till now. They are at the bottom of the table.

No team ever has managed to get into the semi-finals after losing 3 of their opening games in ISL's short history, so Zico's FC Goa have a long, hard road to recovery from this abysmal run of form, and the odds of them making their way out of it is reducing with every round.