I-League: Minerva Punjab rally from a goal down to beat Chennai City FC; stay unbeaten

Ludhiana, December 11: Minerva Punjab came from behind to beat Chennai City 2-1 at the Guru Nanak Dev Stadium in Ludhiana during their I-League match on Monday.

Having conceded an early goal in the fourth minute by Joachim of Chennai City FC, Minerva Punjab FC struck twice in the second half to secure the three points.

William Asiedu struck three minutes after the break and skipper Kassim Aidara made it 2-1 11 minute later to win it for Minerva.

To call it just a football match would be an understatement. It was cold, it was raining and the players were clearly feeling the chills on a typical wintery night in Punjab. It was far from your ideal football game, but surely one hell of a fixture in terms of entertainment.

Minerva made two changes in the starting lineup with Randeep and Sukhdev making way for Souvik and Gagandeep Bali respectively.

Chennai City started the game brightly with ruthless aggression which took Minerva Punjab by surprise. The defensive pair of Gagandeep and Dano didn't look too comfortable. Taking advantage of this defensive unbalance, Chennai City took the lead in the 4th minute itself through Jean-Michel Joachim.

Chennai could have gone 2-0 up in the 22nd minute if it wasn't for Abhishek's tackle just at the right moment inside his own penalty box. Khogen Singh opted to substitute midfielder Amandeep in place of Souvik Das in the 41st minute in an attempt to change something desperately.

As soon as the second half began, you could sense that Minerva Punjab was up to something. They were rewarded with this change of attitude in the 48th minute when William struck from 10 yards out from the rebound to equalize the scores.

In the 59th minute, Minerva took the lead through Kassim's diving header. He dived to full length ahead of his marker to head the ball inside the six-yard box, giving no chance to the keeper.

Chennai head coach made three quick substitutions in order to turn things around, but Minerva Punjab restrained the pressure to come out on top once again.

With this win, Minerva Punjab are on 10 points in four matches and regain their top spot from Mohun Bagan.

Source: AIFF Media