Jamshedpur: Jamshedpur FC and Chennaiyin FC had to settle for a point each at the end of a thrilling Hero Indian Super League encounter which ended 1-1 at the JRD Tata Sports Complex here on Monday.
It was the away side who took the lead through Nerijus Valskis’ fine strike in the 26th minute. However, Jamshedpur denied Chennaiyin a win by coming up with an equaliser through Issac Vanmalsawma in the 89th minute.
With this draw, Jamshedpur find themselves in the fourth position with 12 points while Chennaiyin FC are still ninth with six points from seven games.
Antonio Iriondo handed a start to Sumeet Passi in the absence of the injured striker Sergio Castel. Meanwhile, Owen Coyle, in his first match in charge, named an unchanged eleven for Chennaiyin FC which started against Odisha FC last month.
Jamshedpur had the first major chance of the game in the 13th minute when C.K.Vineeth found himself in acres of space down the left. He only had to find Passi or Farukh Choudhary inside the box. However, his cross was misdirected and the chance went abegging.
At the other end, Lallianzuala Chhangte got behind the Jamshedpur defence on the left and his cross was just about cleared by Tiri before Thoi Singh got on the end of it.
The breakthrough the away side desperately sought came in the 27th minute through Nerijus Valskis who bagged his fourth goal of the campaign. He got the ball on the edge of the box and found Rafael Crivellaro. The Brazilian turned Aitor Monroy and passed it back to Valskis who took a touch and shot on the turn which hit the inside of the far post on its way inside the goal.
Just after the half an hour mark, Jamshedpur were jolted when Noe Costa suffered a shoulder injury after a challenge from Masih Saighani and had to be substituted with Jitendra Singh taking his place.
