I-League: Sudeva Delhi thrash Chennai City 4-0

Kolkata, Feb 3 (IANS) Sudeva Delhi FC grabbed their second I-League win in emphatic fashion on Wednesday, beating former champions Chennai City FC 4-0 at the Salt Lake Stadium. Naocha Singh’s quickfire brace in the first 10 minutes set the tone after which Naorem Mahesh Singh and Manvir Singh scored in the second half.Naocha scored the first goal in the sixth minute of the match as he tapped it in from a brilliant cross by Naorem. Four minutes later, Sudeva’s high press reaped dividends. Kean Lewis stole possession high up the field and put Naocha onto goal. From a tight angle, the forward produced a sublime finish to put Sudeva two goals up.The quick-fire brace by Naocha seemed to suck the life out of Chennai. The Satyasagara-coached side rarely made chances and were playing catch-up for much of the half, losing balls easily in midfield and failing to retrieve second balls.Meanwhile, a spurred Sudeva side went in for the kill and hunted for their third goal of the match. In the 23rd minute, Lewis missed a clean chance after a Mahesh Singh header from a long throw-in found him clear at the far post. With the empty net waiting to receive Lewis’s shot, the midfielder hit the post and the ball went back into play.Although Chennai survived the scare of going three down before half-time, their defence, time and again, was being penetrated with ease by Sudeva. However in the 34th minute, much against the run of play, Syed Pasha was played in by a long ball into the Sudeva box. Pasha got past the defender in front of him but the angle had got too tight for him to score and he missed the target. Two quickly became three for Sudeva after the break as in the 51st minute, Naorem ran towards the Chennai City FC goal, after dancing past two defenders, beating them with sheer pace. The forward coolly slotted the ball home with his left foot to put his team three goals ahead. A rattled Chennai then committed players in attack but there was trouble brewing for them on the counter. They were caught out and almost conceded the fourth goal just minutes later. Manvir Singh volleyed the ball towards goal at the end of a Sudeva counter-attack and Chennai goalkeeper Kabir Toufik produced a brilliant save to keep his team’s deficit down to three goals. Shortly after, Manvir again had a chance to put Sudeva four goals ahead but this time too, the forward failed to score with only the opposition goalkeeper to beat. However, he finally found the net in the 71st minute when his curling shot from close range went past Toufik to extend Sudeva’s lead to four goals.–IANSrkm/bg