Jamshedpur FC’s new year began on a sour note as Chennaiyin FC beat them 1-0 in Indian Super League at GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim on Sunday.
Having drawn their last two matches, Jamshedpur were looking to earn a win and go same on points with leaders Mumbai City FC but it wasn’t to be as they were handed their second loss of the season thanks to a solitary goal from Lukasz Gikiewicz in the 31st minute.
It was terrible defending by Jamshedpur players as Gikiewicz headed in from six yards away from goal to put Chennaiyin in front after Vladimir Koman put in a long ball from the left from a free-kick.
For quite sometime Chennaiyin were probing the Jamshedpur defence with high passes but those didn’t produce any result. This time Koman’s ball was on the money and Narender Gahlot failed to mark Lukasz, who scored one of the easiest goals possible. Goalkeeper TP Rehenesh was also at fault for not coming out to collect the ball.
Despite being a goal down, Jamshedpur didn’t lose heart and kept searching for the equalizer. With the half-time break coming up, Jordan Murray played a brilliant ball to Greg Stewart inside the box. Sadly, despite the ball falling on his left foot, the Scotsman couldn’t put the ball into the back of net.
Even as the second half began, Jamshedpur went close to scoring on several occasions, but they failed to convert their chances. While Murray had a terrible day in front of the goal, it was Ishan Pandit – coming in place of Boris Singh in the 67th minute – who missed a sitter with less than 10 minutes on the clock.
However, Chennaiyin defenders should be praised for keeping a clean sheet after having conceded seven goals in their last two matches. Also, their captain Anirudh Thapa had a brilliant game and was a livewire on the filed especially in the second half.
With the win Chennaiyin rose to the fifth place with 14 points from nine matches while Jamshedpur fell to the sixth place.