Chennaiyin FC won its second match on the trot, cruising past Punjab FC 5-1 at the Nehru Stadium on Sunday.
Ryan Edwards, Connor Shields, Rafael Crivellaro and Vincy Barretto got on the scoresheet to secure the first home victory for the Marina Machans this season as Khundongbam Krishnananda clinched the solitary goal for PFC.
The Marina Arena came alive in the 24th minute when Crivellaro’s corner found an unmarked Edwards inside the box, with the defender poking the ball inside the net from close distance.
It was a quickfire second for CFC three minutes later as Shields converted Crivellaro’s early cross from the left with a first-time finish on the slide.
Owen Coyle’s men finished the half strongly, winning a penalty after Khaiminthang Lhungdim hacked Farukh Choudhary from behind. Crivellaro stood over the spot-kick and converted it for his team’s third.
It was a frantic start to the second-half as former CFC man Melroy Assisi lunged at Rahim Ali with a dangerous two-footed challenge, for which he saw a straight red card.
Having an extra man turned advantageous for the home side.
First, Shields grabbed a brace from Rahim Ali’s cutback in the 56th minute, followed by Vincy Barretto, whose shot took a deflection off Mashoor Shareef and rattled the net in the 84th minute to cap off a five-star performance.
A clean sheet for CFC would have been the icing on the cake, but Krishnananda’s finessed effort from the edge of the box beat Debjit Majumdar as Punjab got a late consolation.
The result: Chennaiyin FC 5 (Edwards 24, Shields 27 & 56, Crivellaro 46-pen, Barretto 84) bt Punjab FC 1 (Krishnananda 86).
