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Chennai City FC maintained their unbeaten run over Mohun Bagan in this season's I-League after their second clash this season finished in a 0-0 draw in Coimbatore. The match initially appeared a turgid affair, but things became more interesting in the second half. Despite both sides having chances to score, neither could break the deadlock and had to settle for a point each.
Here are the main talking points from the game:
An absolutely dreadful first half!
Did either team even want to win this match?
It didn't look like it in the first half. The pace was lethargic, neither team showed any industry and the play, in general, was tedious. Chennai City are trying to stay in the I-League for next season and need points while Bagan are trying to maintain their slim hopes of winning the tournament alive and also needed the points. Yet, there was nothing of note done in the first half.
Both teams plodded around without really constructing any proper moves, the ball was in midfield most of the time and one would not be surprised if a few people watching actually fell asleep. It was that bad!
Chakraborty continues a trend
Mohun Bagan have by now established a trend whereby one member of their starting eleven almost inevitably gets replaced even before the first half has ended.
Sanjoy Sen used to do it regularly and his successor Shankarlal Chakraborty has not shied away from it. He did it again, when he yanked off Azharuddin Mullick for Bimal Magar in just the 34th minute.
It is usually one of the wingers who gets replaced and today it was Mullick. An additional reason for his withdrawal was probably his horrendous miss from close range when presented with a goal-scoring chance earlier in the half.
A nasty collision, a new keeper, a penalty saved
As dull and uneventful as the first half here was, the second was anything but.
Chennai City came out with some purpose and began to thread some good moves together. Bagan too were visibly improved. It all came to a head in the 67th minute. A good Bagan move saw an opportunity present itself to Sk. Faiaz in the Chennai City box. The ball was cleared though before he could get to it and Faiaz ended up kneeing Chennai City keeper Uros Poljanec in the head.
It was a nasty blow to the keeper that saw him busted open and the injury was bad enough that he needed to be replaced by a young and inexperienced reserve keeper named Kabir.
His first duty was to defend a corner and he looked anything but confident. He came for the ball, flapped all over it and missed it completely. He then fell on the ground and was sprawling around as the ball fell to Raynier Fernandes whose shot thudded off the underside of the crossbar. A massive reprieve for Chennai City and Kabir.
However, his big moment came a little later. In the 83rd minute Bagan were awarded a penalty for a foul on Dipanda Dicka. But Kabir came up big, diving to his right to keep out Akram Moghrabi's effort and more importantly keep his side in the game.
Chaos ensues
So you just read about Bagan being awarded a penalty right?
It was for a foul by Tarif Akhand on Dipanda Dicka. His sliding tackle saw him extend his left foot out and though the ball had passed, it brought Dicka down in the box. The referee pointed to the spot and appeared to book Tarif. However, if that was indeed the referee's decision, he failed to send him off because Tarif was already on a yellow.
Edwin Vanspaul was in the referee's face after he awarded the penalty and was visibly not happy. He was around when the referee dished the yellow. Was the yellow given to him for dissent? But the referee clearly had the card pointed in Tarif's direction.
After Kabir made the save from the ensuing penalty, Edwin celebrated by throwing the ball into the ground in front of the referee and shouting in his face some more (as if the earlier effort wasn't good enough). The referee showed him a yellow and then a red and sent him off.
This sent the Chennai City players into a meltdown because they clearly thought it was Tarif who was booked earlier for the penalty related foul. Soon all hell broke loose - the fourth official got involved, the linesmen got involved, Chennai City staff got involved and so did the Bagan staff. It was total acrimony.
In the midst of all this, the referee was running from person to person and checking his notes to try and make sense of things.
Eventually, the referee stood by his decision. Edwin was sent off for one yellow. Tarif with two stayed on the pitch. The official I-League match page says the first yellow was to Edwin. If that's the case, the referee was correct. Only the referee can tell us who he really booked.
He completely lost control of the game and there was pandemonium.
Joachim bursts into life in the second
All that controversy should not take away from what was a fine second half display from Chennai City forward Jean Joachim.
He unleashed a number of good efforts towards goal which required the intervention of Bagan goalkeeper Shilton Paul and the rest of their defence to keep out.
He tested Paul in the 65th minute with a powerful, dipping effort from midfield. It initially looked to be going well high, but dipped late and Paul was beaten. It just kissed the bar though on it's way and went out, fortunately for Bagan. In the 75th he attempted another half-volleyed attempt which Paul saved and once again in the 80th minute, this time Paul producing a fantastic save diving to his left.
He had another looping bicycle kick cleared off the line by the Bagan defence with Paul well beaten. A fantastic showing from Joachim that could have gotten Chennai City the win if not for some fantastic goalkeeping from Paul.
