NorthEast beat Chennaiyin 2-0 in ill-tempered ISL match

NorthEast United tasted their first win of the season with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Chennaiyin FC in an eventful ISL match.

Guwahati: NorthEast United tasted their first win of the season with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Chennaiyin FC in an eventful Indian Super League football match that was marred by frayed tempers and violent conduct of players of both sides here on Tuesday.

Portuguese midfielder Simao Sabrosa converted from the penalty spot in the 90th minute while Argentine forward Nicolas Leandro Velez put the game beyond Chennaiyin's reach in the injury time (90+5) to hand NorthEast United their first points in the season at their home ground.

The match, which saw one red and 10 yellow cards being shown by the referee, witnessed many heated moments, with the players almost exchanging blows at times. Chennaiyin played with 10 men from the 40th minute onwards after Harmanjot Khabra was given a straight red card by the referee for violent conduct.

Before the half time, NorthEast head coach Cesar Farias and his Chennaiyin counterpart Marco Materazzi exchanged heated words from their respective touchlines. This brought players and officials from both sides face-to-face and on the verge of exchanging blows and the match was interrupted for about five minutes.

The visiting team's captain Bernard Mendy chased Farias and he had to be stopped physically by other players and the referee.

After the referee blew the final whistle, Mendy again chased Farias and this time the players of both the sides were involved in a scuffle. The referee had to intervene and security officials prevented the situation from worsening further in front of the nearly 20,000 crowd at the Indira Gandhi Stadium.

In the 77th minute, NorthEast United's Sabrosa and Chennaiyin's Mehrajuddin Wadoo got involved in a face-off and both were shown the yellow cards.

In the first half, NorthEast got ample chances but failed to convert them into goals.

NorthEast coach Farias made as many as seven changes to his team, including a debut for Cameroon defender Andre Bikey, who had replaced injured captain Miguel Garcia and Holicharan Narzary, who recovered from injury and made his debut.

Chennaiyin manager Materazzi too made many changes but most of his six changes were aimed at giving his players well-deserved rest. Regulars like Elano Blumer and Stiven Mendoza, who in between them have scored seven goals, were not included in the starting line-up.

NorthEast started positively and could have surged ahead in the first minute itself. Diomansy Kamara headed a ball for Francis Dadzie, who cut inside and shot from just outside the box but his effort missed the target by a whisker.

Chennaiyin did not take too much time to settle down with Fikru Teferra and Jayesh Rane having good chances to give their team the lead.

NorthEast had a chance to go ahead in the 38th minute when they were awarded a penalty. A corner kick saw Alessandro Potenza pull down Cedric Hengbart and referee pointed to the spot.

Kamara stepped up to take the spot kick but Edel Bete guessed correctly and saved it, his second save in the competition.

In the second half, both teams made influential changes in an attempt to gain control. While Chennaiyin introduced Elano and Mendoza, NorthEast fielded striker Velez and marquee player Sabrosa.

NorthEast went close in the 65th minute when Dadzie laid the ball for Boithang Haokip who sensed an opportunity from inside the box but his shot was wide of the mark.

At the other end, Mendoza beat his marker and then hoodwinked another one but his final attempt ballooned over the bar.

Just when the match seemed like heading for a draw, NorthEast won a penalty in the 90th minute after Jayesh Rane clattered into Sabrosa inside the danger zone. Sabrosa made no mistake from the spot.

In added time, NorthEast made it 2-0 thanks to a lightning counter attack which Velez scored with remarkable ease past the onrushing Chennaiyin goalkeeper.