Chennaiyin FC eked out a goalless draw against Kerala Blasters to inch closer to a play-off spot in the Hero Indian Super League.<\/p>\n
It was the first 0-0 draw in the league since the December 1, and while it doesn\u2019t end the Blasters\u2019 season, they need to hope for other results to go their way to stay in contention.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re in fifth place, just one point behind Jamshedpur FC, who have a game in hand. Chennaiyin FC are placed third after accumulating 29 points from 17 matches, the same as second-placed FC Pune City, who have a better goal difference.<\/p>\n
The Blasters could have won the game when they got a penalty just seven minutes into the second half. Gudjon Baldvinsson had stormed into Chennaiyin\u2019s box and took a tumble when Jerry Lalrinzuala made contact from behind.<\/p>\n
Courage Pekuson took responsibility and went low to Karanjit\u2019s right – but the keeper had guessed early and made a fine save. The 78th minute saw both teams create chances within seconds.<\/p>\n
Jackichand Singh slipped in Baldvinsson and his first-time shot was brilliantly saved by Karanjit. There was a rebound but CK Vineeth simply couldn\u2019t sort his feet out to pounce on the chance.<\/p>\n
Play shifted immediately to the other end where Jaime Gavilan\u2019s low shot took a wicked deflection but goalkeeper Paul Rachubka still saved it on his left.<\/p>\n
Five minutes later, Baldvinsson was set up inside the box by Wes Brown\u2019s cushioned header and his volley was headed for the top corner, only for Karanjit\u2019s fingertips which got in the way yet again. The goalkeeper was an easy choice for Hero of the Match.<\/p>\n
Rachubka at the other end was also good when called upon making a 92nd minute save to keep his team in the season. Gregory Nelson\u2019s stinging effort was touched onto the post by him as the game ended with both custodians making vital contributions.<\/p>\n
The first half was defined by two chances – one gloriously saved due to a defensive reaction and the other inexplicably missed. It was Berbatov with the first of these two when he was lingering outside the box during a corner and the ball looped to him at an inviting height.<\/p>\n
The Bulgarian – known for his impeccable technique – took a first-time volley which would have hit the back of the net had it not been for Dhanpal Ganesh\u2019s last-ditch header to block it.<\/p>\n
The second and the easier chance fell to Jeje Lalpekhlua. Rene Mihelic had broken forward and slipped in the Indian striker, whose first touch was perfect and set him up for a one-on-one chance against Paul Rachubka, but his left-footed low shot was just wide. It was a chance made in heaven for the striker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chennaiyin FC eked out a goalless draw against Kerala Blasters to inch closer to a play-off spot in the Hero Indian Super League. It was the first 0-0 draw in the league since the December 1, and while it doesn\u2019t end the Blasters\u2019 season, they need to hope for other results to go their way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22943,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22941\/revisions\/22943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}