NorthEast wins 2-0 against 10-man Chennaiyin as Simao scores on debut
Late goals from Simao Sabrosa and Nicolas Velez handed NorthEast their first win of this ISL campaign. The 2-0 win came against a Chennaiyin FC team that played with 10 men for more than an entire half, following Harmanjot Khabra's controversial dismissal in the first half.
The match got off to a flying start as both the teams came close to scoring in the opening minute. First it was NorthEast forward Francis Dadzie who controlled a lovely long pass from Diomansy Kamara, before letting fly with his left foot, but the ball sizzled over the crossbar.
At the other end, Fikru nearly capitalized on a poor back-pass from Silas. The former Atletico de Kolkata forward intercepted the ball and caught the keeper a long way off his line. But Fikru's attempt to chip the goalkeeper ended way off the mark.
Chennaiyin dominated possession in the opening 15 minutes of the game, but the home team came back strongly after that phase. However, neither team was able to create too many opportunities in front of the goal.
The match was a drab affair, till the 37th minute of the game, at which point it suddenly broke into life – although not in the manner in which the fans would have hoped for.
The referee awarded a penalty to NorthEast after Alessandro Potenza brought down Cedric Hengbart inside the box, while defending a cross from the left. Former Fulham forward, Diomansy Kamara stepped up for the spot kick, but his weak attempt was easily kept out by Apoula Edel.
While this was going on, the referee showed Harmanjot Khabra a yellow card for his indecent behavior towards the match official, after which the Indian midfielder supposedly abused the referee once again and he was shown a straight red.
A melee broke out at the touchline as Marco Materazzi and Cesar Farias got involved in a war of words. But both the teams managed to escape the situation without another player getting sent off.
NorthEast and Chennaiyin went into the half-time break tied at 0-0, and by this point the referee had lost his control of the game.
The Highlanders dominated the second half with their numerical advantage, but failed to create decent openings. In fact, it was visitors who nearly took the lead in the 53rd minute as Raphael Augusto set Fikru through on goal with a delightful pass. However, the finish of the Ethiopian didn't match the quality of the pass from the Brazilian.
Simao Sabrosa was introduced into the match among huge cheers from the home crowd and the Portuguese winger almost made an immediate impact on the pitch. Andre Bikey picked out the former Barcelona winger with a lovely cross-field pass, and Simao's first time volley failed to hit the target. But he wasn't to be denied for long though, as NorthEast were awarded their second penalty of the game after Jayesh Rane rammed into Simao from behind.
The 35-year-old stepped up and slotted the ball into the left hand corner of the net to provide the home side with a lead in the 90th minute.
Chennaiyin threw men forward to score the equalizer and NorthEast hit them on the counter attack to double the lead. Deep into added time, Sanju Pradhan put Nicolas Velez through on goal with a lovely pass and the Argentinean finished it off emphatically.
The match ended 2-0 in favour of NorthEast and these three points have lifted them off the bottom of the table. Cesar Farias will be hoping to build on this result and would be delighted with the impact his marquee player made in this game.
Marco Materazzi walked into the tunnel when the referee awarded the second penalty of the match; he didn't even wait for the outcome. The Italian will definitely be displeased with the way the referee handled this game and will consider himself unlucky. The visitors rested two key players in this match and were handicapped by the red card, but they should be able to bounce back from this in their next game.
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