The Indian Arrows, comprised mostly of India Under-19 players and Fifa Under-17 World Cup squad, defeated Chennai City FC 3-0 in their first I-League encounter for the season 2017-’18. Aniket Jadhav bagged a brace and Boris Singh Thangjam netted the third as the youngsters stunned the southern side at the GMC Bambolim side on Wednesday.
After a slow start, Arrows came close to breaking the deadlock in the 13th minute. The move came down the left channel which saw Edmund Lalrindika clipping the ball into the box for the onrushing Suresh Singh but the midfielder couldn’t connect with it.
Chennai City had a few opportunities of their own. One such move saw Jean Michael Joachim work his way into the penalty box only to balloon his shot over the bar.
But the Arrows stunned Chennai City in the 20th minute. After passing the ball out from the defence, right-back Boris Singh threaded a defence-splitting pass to Rahul KP who was operating on the right flank.
Rahul aimed a cross into the box and Aniket Jadhav got on the end of the cross just outside the box. The forward made space for himself with a touch and curled a long ranger into the far corner.
After falling behind, Chennai City tried to get back into the game but they were let down by poor finishing especially by Joachim and Lucky Kelechukwa.
Arrows striker Edmund showed good movement up front and nearly scored on two occasions. The forward saw one lobbed shot miss the far corner by inches and a swerving shot from outside the box hit the post.
Chennai City’s best chances came through set-pieces but poor finishing kept letting them down as Dheeraj Singh was barely troubled. The score at half-time was 1-0 in favour of the Indian Arrows.
After the changeover, Arrows stunned Chennai again as they doubled their advantage in the 58th minute. Edmund raced down the byline and dragged the defenders and goalkeeper out before poking the ball into the box.
With an open goal in front of him, Aniket raced towards the ball and found the back of the net to score his second of the game.
Eight minutes later, Chennai substitute Gurpreet Singh hit the crossbar from a free-kick and Chennai City had a few half chances.
As the game was winding down, Boris Singh piled the misery on a jaded Chennai City with a 90th-minute goal as he steered the ball into the net.
The Arrows welcome Minerva Punjab to Goa next while Chennai City visit Gokulam.