Defending champion Aizawl FC returned to winning ways by comfortably outclassing the visiting Chennai City FC 2-0 in an I-League encounter at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday.
Japanese striker Yugo Kobayashi opened the scoring when he converted a penalty while David Lalrinmuana, the ‘hero’ of the match, fetched the insurance goal in the first half itself.
Coming into the match unbeaten in its previous three matches, the Chennai side adopted a conscious counter-attacking game but failed to sustain it effectively.
Aizawl, having lost its previous outing against Mohun Bagan, stepped up the attack midway through the opening session as it made deep inroads in Chennai’s defensive layout.
The visitors held on well initially but gave in as the hosts increased the tempo with the creative threesome — Romanian Andrei Ionescu, David Lalrinmuana and Albert Zohmingmawia — doing a good job by stretching the opposition defence.
Chennai City’s citadel finally fell when an overworked Veniamin Shumeiko made the crucial error of handling the ball inside the box. The Kyrgyzstan full-back was trying to stop Lalrinmuana from getting a free run inside the box.
Kobayashi had no problem in finding the net from the spot giving the host the lead in the 26th minute.
The host kept up the offensive and got rewarded in the 33rd when Lalrinmuana got his name on the score-sheet.
The gutsy attacking mid-fielder latched on to a square pass from Ionescu and fired a left-footer. The ball took a slight deflection off defender D. Ravanan and hit the upright before rolling home.
Chennai City’s attack had a bad day in office as both captain Soosairaj and Jean Joachim (Junior) could not make much of the few chances that came their way.
The result: Aizawl FC 2 (Yugo Kobayashi 26-pen, David Lalrinmuana 33) bt Chennai City FC 0.