Durand Cup: Chennaiyin FC beat Hyderabad FC 3-1; Punjab FC plays out goalless draw with Bangladesh Army

Guwahati: Chennaiyin FC got the better of Hyderabad FC 3-1 in the southern derby of the Durand Cup football tournament here on Thursday. Chennaiyin thus took the top spot in Group E. Jordan Murray (46th minute), Connor Shields (15’) and an own goal from Alex Saji (6’) struck for Chennaiyin, while Chingelsana Singh scored for Hyderabad via a penalty in the fourth minute. Hyderabad FC coach Thangboi Singto lined up his team in a 3-5-2 formation while Owen Coyle started in a 4-3-3 in their first match of the tournament. The match started at a fast pace with Hyderabad earning an early corner. Hitesh Sharma was swept off his feet with Jitheshwor Singh conceding a penalty. The resulting penalty was converted with ease by Hyderabad captain Chinglensana. Chennaiyin found the equaliser through an own goal by Hyderabad defender Alex. Farukh Choudhary’s beautiful cross from the left was deflected into his own goal by Alex in an attempt to clear. Both defences looked nervous which was evident from the mistakes made, and one such error led to Chennaiyin taking the lead in the 15th minute. Hyderabad goalkeeper Anuj Kumar’s wayward pass was intercepted by Jordan Murray who found a free Connor Shields across the box. Connor finished expertly past the goalkeeper to score his first goal in Indian football. The Marina Machans continued to put pressure on the Hyderabad side as they looked to score from every attack. Chennaiyin scored their third goal at the start of the second half. Ayush Adhikari lifted a simple ball above the Hyderabad defence, catching them napping and Jordan Murray did the rest. Punjab FC and Bangladesh Army XI FT play out goalless draw Punjab FC (PFC) and Bangladesh Army Football Team (BAFT) played out a goalless draw in Group A at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharathi Krirangan in Kolkata. This is BAFT’s second draw in the tournament against an ISL side after they had drawn against East Bengal. With this draw, BAFT have completed their group engagements with two points from three matches while Punjab FC have one point from two games. Punjab FC dominated possession from the start of the half with Juan Mera controlling the game in the midfield supported by Amarjit Kiyam and Maheson Singh. The BAFT defence was resilient and defended deep in their own half. Punjab tried to beat the tight defence with short passes with wing backs Nitesh Darjee and Abhishek Singh joining the attack alongside centre forward Daniel Lalhimpuia. BAFT were content to play on the counter and used the set pieces well to create chances. The first real chance came for Punjab FC through some intricate play which found Daniel Lalhimpuia, whose shot was saved by BAFT keeper Ashraful Islam Rana. The best chance of the half came when Bangladesh captain Mehedi Hasan’s header back to his keeper was short and Daniel pounced on the opportunity but his shot was saved by the BAFT keeper. The best moment for BAFT came when left back Md Kamrul Islam’s pile driver was saved acrobatically by PFC goalkeeper Ravi Kumar.