After four consecutive draws, Hyderabad FC were in desperate need of a win when they met Chennaiyin FC on Sunday. Chennaiyin, themselves, were struggling a bit and needed the wina s much as their opponents.
But it would be the Nizams who would take the spoils and consolidate their spot in the top four. The win was very important for them as it came on the back of four consecutive draws. For Chennaiyin, it was a case of their familiar malaise upfront where they wasted a number of chances.
Experienced Spanish striker Fran Sandaza, given a start for the first time this season by coach Manuel Marquez, impressed with the opening goal. The 36-year-old, who scored an injury time equaliser for the Nizams in their last match against Bengaluru FC, looked very dangerous alongside Aridane Santana and deservedly got that important opening goal, thanks to Joao Victor who played a delightful pass.
ISL
Sandaza played for just 55 minutes but in that time he had a huge impact on the game with his presence and ability to pose constant threats in the opposition's penalty area. Sandaza was replaced by Australian striker Joel Chianese who scored the second goal of the match with a quality strike and sealed the fate of the game.
Manuel Marquez will be happy after seeing two of his foreign recruits, who did not play much in the first half of the season due to injuries, start to have an influence on games.
Hyderabad are one of those very few clubs in the ISL this season who hardly got a chance to fulfill their foreign players' quota in their starting eleven's for most of the season. Despite missing the full services of their overseas contingent, Hyderabad have performed consistently and got key results which has kept them firmly in the race for the play-offs.
The injured players are now slowly returning and it augurs well for the Nizams. With only five matches left in the season, Hyderabad are right in the middle of a cut-throat competition with NorthEast United and FC Goa for two play-offs berths and at this stage, the manager will want to make full use of his squad.
Another area where Hyderabad has impressed is their Indian players. Very rarely do ISL clubs witness consistent performances from their Indian players. Marquez has mostly used seven Indian outfield players (Chinglensana Singh, Asish Rai, Akash Mishra, Halicharan Narzary, Liston Colaco, Mohammed Yasir and Hitesh Sharma) in rotation for the majority of Hyderabad's games this season and all of them have impressed in parts.
ISL
While the signs are encouraging for Hyderabad FC, Chennaiyin FC are in a rut and there are no signs of Csaba Laszlo's side ending it. And it has not been a case of the Laszlo's side getting outplayed. Apart from the reverse fixture against Hyderabad which they lost 4-1, the Marina Machans have not been outplayed in any game.
But they consistently end up on the wrong side of a result, thanks to their profligate finishing.
The former champions once again created a host of chances especially in the second half as they chased the game. Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev, Rahim Ali and more were guilty of spurning easy chances that should have at least seen Chennaiyin restore parity if not win. However, the confidence is so slow among the forwards that nothing seems to be going right for them upfront.
As Csaba Laszlo said after the game, Football without goals is nothing and all the chances you create become pointless if a team does not convert them.
Chennaiyin are not entirely out of the race for the play-offs spots after the Hyderabad defeat but unless they find a solution to their profligacy in front of the goal, their chances remain bleak.
