Imphal: Two first-half goals, one coming from a penalty ensured Aizwal all three points against a struggling Chennai City at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday.
Comeback man David Lalrinmuana turned hero on the night as the former captain first earned the penalty in the 24th minute before scoring from a stunner six minutes later as Aizwal moved back to sixth, equal on points with Mohun Bagan, who are ahead on courtesy of having a greater goal difference (+6). The defending champions who lost to the Mariners 0-2 in the previous encounter have a goal difference of (+3).
Chennai City meanwhile remained eight with just nine points from 10 fixtures. For a team that looked resurgent after defeating Bagan 2-1 at their own backyard before holding both Neroca and Shillong Lajong to goalless draws, they looked dull in attacks and were equally fragile on defence.
But for Aizwal that came into the match with a 0-2 defeat against Bagan, it was the reigning champions who started better. Yugo Kobayashi and David Lalrinmuana looked threatening everytime they surged forward and nearly gave the hosts an early lead in the 17th minute. The latter put Andrei Ionescu clear on goal but Chennai custodian Uros Poljanec was quick off his line to threat away the danger.
Their persistence was finally paid off in the 24th minute when Lalrinmuana in another of his runs eased past Dharmaraj Ravnan to enter the box. But defender Veniamin Shumeiko stopped the Aizwal winger handling the ball in the process and Kobayashi made no mistake from the spot, sending Poljanec the wrong way for his third goal of the season.
Andrei Ionescu who had been the centre of most of Aizwal’s attacks till then, soon got into the act with a clever through ball six minutes later that his partner in crime Lalrinmuana, rifled into the goal after taking a deflection.
While the home side kept up their attacking intent despite going 2-0 up in just over 30 minutes, Chennai disappointed with their best chance of the half coming from a Soosai Raj shot that was a regular save for Aizwal custodian Avilash Paul.
In a bid to get back into the match, Chennai coach V Soundarajan made double substitutions at the start of second-half, but both failed miserably as the ‘Reds’ were happy to defend deep, playing on the counter.
The visitors did have more possession on the ball in the latter stages but were unable to create any great openings for themselves and eventually went down for their first defeat in four matches.