ISL 2018-19: Ultra-defensive Pune City suffer 2-4 loss against Chennaiyin

The win lifts Chennai to eighth position with four points from seven games while Pune go to the bottom of the table with two points from six games

9:28 PM

Full-time. FC Pune City suffer 2-4 loss against Chennaiyin FC at home. 

9:25 PM

Minute 94 (RED CARD!!) --  A terrible, dangerous two-footed challenge by Marcelinho earns him straight red and Germanpreet, the player at the receiving end, is taken out of the field by the medical team

9:20 PM

Minute 92 (SUBSTITUTION FOR CHENNAI) -- Jeje out, Rafi in

9:19 PM

Minute 90 -- Five minutes of additional time

9:19 PM

Minute 90 (GOAL!!) -- Pune score from a corner!! Villa, at the near post, gets at the end of an inswinging corner from the right corner and heads it into the  net. Surely nothing more than a consolation goal?

9:15 PM

Minute 85 (SUBSTITUTION FOR CHENNAIYIN FC) -- Calderon out, Renthlei in

9:12 PM

Minute 84 -- Jeje tries from the left edge of the box but his effort is saved

9:09 PM

Minute 80 -- Chennai go close to scoring their fifth goal! Augusto pulls the trigger from quite some distance and the ball rattles the crossbar. So close!

9:06 PM

Minute 77 (SUBSTITUTION FOR PUNE CITY) -- Fanai out, Jakob in

9:05 PM

Pune, instead of trying to go for the kill when they were ahead, sat deep and tried to defend their tender lead and while the plan served them well in the first half, it has heavily backfired in the second half so far. Can they come back from this?

9:00 PM

Minute 69 (GOAL!!) -- Chennai score! What a stunnig effort by Inigo Calderon who, after a bit of scramble inside the box, gets the ball at the far post where he is all alone and scores with an overhead kick. Pune 1-Chennai 3

9:00 PM

Minute 67 (SUBSTITUTION FOR FC PUNE CITY) -- Alfaro in, Kuruniyan out

8:52 PM

Minute 62 -- A terrible miss for Pune! Marcelinho's cross into the box nearly finds Dia except that it's cleared by Mailson in time

8:47 PM

Minute 57 (SUBSTITUTION FOR PUNE) -- Robin out, Poojary in

8:46 PM

Minute 57 (GOAL!!) -- Chennai score again!! And it's Nelson this time. A lobbed ball inside the ball finds Nelson who chips it over the goalkeeper who failed to rush out of his line in time. 2-1 now in favour of Chennai

8:44 PM

Minute 55 (SUBSTITUTION FOR CHENNAI) -- Thoi Singh comes in for Francisco

8:44 PM

Minute 54 (GOAL!!) -- Chennai score!! And Pune's reslience is broken. A chipped ball from a free-kick by Thapa finds Mailson Alves in acres of space who heads it rather comfortably to make it 1-1

8:42 PM

Minute 52 -- Chennai attack from all fronts but can't just get inside the Pune box but a rather tame effort from outside the box does manage to trouble goalkeeper Kamaljit a bit who fluffs it once before recovering well

8:37 PM

Minute 49 (YELLOW CARD) -- Robin Singh shown the card

8:35 PM

Minute 46 -- Chennai go close! A curling attempt from Calderon from outside the box goes up and over the crossbar

8:33 PM

Second half begins

8:25 PM

Half-time report: An early goal by Ashique Kuruniyan got Pune City FC ahead although the visitors Chennaiyin FC had the majority of the ball in the first half at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune.

 

Ashique's goal came almost out of nowhere as Chennai had been dictating the proccedings in the early minutes. But, Robin Singh put in a cross across the field from deep right and Ashique did well to control the ball at the far post and put his effort beyond the two sliding defenders and the goalkeeper to make it 1-0.

 

For the next 30 minutes, the game played on a fixed script of Chennai moving the ball around and Pune defending deep and trying to hit the visitors on the counter.

 

Chennai did manage to get through the Pune defence in the 43rd minute when after some tussle at the corner flag, Fernandes received the ball on the left wing and drove into the box from where he pulled the trigger that the goalkeeper did well to push to safety.

 

Minutes later, Pune got a chance to double their lead when Marcelinho's free-kick found Mills unmarked at the far post with Chennai defenders asleep. He tried to find the near post but Karanjit made the save.

 

The second half shouldn't be much different as Pune seems like they are happy with their 1-0 lead and are focused on protecting that lead instead of adding more to the tally and unless Chennai can get more creativity in the final third, it's Pune's game to lose

8:19 PM

Half-time

8:19 PM

Minute 45+1 -- A fine ball is played inside the Pune box from the left but Jeje doesn't press and it allows Pune to clear the danger

8:19 PM

Minute 45+1 -- A fine ball is played inside the Pune box from the left but Jeje doesn't press and it allows Pune to clear the danger

8:18 PM

Minute 45 -- Two minutes of additional time

8:18 PM

Minute 45 -- Another chance for Pune. Marcelinho's free-kick finds Mills unmarked at the far post with Chennai defenders asleep. He tries to find the near post but Karanjit makes the save

8:15 PM

Minute 43 -- What a chance for Chennai! After some tussle at the corner flag, Fernandes receives the ball on the left wing and drives into the box from where he pulls the trigger that the goalkeeper does well to push away

8:12 PM

Minute 41 -- Not much has happened in the last few minutes and not much is happening now as Chennai are comfortably passing the ball around and Pune are happing defending their 1-0 lead

8:07 PM

Minute 36 -- Chennai have looked more comfortable on the ball, knocking it around and keeping possession but they have failed to penetrate the disciplined Pune defeinsive line while the hosts are looking to hit on the counter and have already scored once