ISL: Bengaluru FC beat Chennaiyin FC

Chennaiyin FC faced a 0-1 defeat in a close contest against Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-24 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Wednesday.

Ryan Williams scored the lone goal for the winning side in the 62nd minute of the match.

The Marina Machans started the contest positively, with Rahim Ali attempting a header in the second minute from the left side of the box. Seven minutes later, Chennaiyin's goalkeeper Debjit Majumder made a fine save on an attempt by Bengaluru's forward Williams.

Bengaluru missed another goal-scoring opportunity in the 35th minute when Javi Hernández's left-footed shot missed the left side of the post before Rafael Crivellaro took a shot from outside the box that went over the bar without troubling the goalkeeper.

Chennaiyin forward Jordan Murray's header went over the bar in the 42nd minute as both teams went into halftime without a goal.

The second half began frantically as Connor Shields found himself in a 1v1 situation against Bengaluru's goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu following a counterattack by the away team. However, Shields's attempt from the left side of the post went over the bar.

Bengaluru soon scored the only goal of the match in the 62nd minute when Halicharan Narzary found Williams with an exquisite through ball from the center of the pitch and the forward made no mistake in beating the Chennaiyin goalkeeper at the near post.

The home team created another fine attack in the 80th minute but this time midfielder Ayush Adhikari ran half the ground and made a last-ditch tackle to throw Suresh Wangjam off the ball and keep Chennaiyin FC in the contest.

Farukh Choudhary received a cross from Ankit Mukherjee in added time. However, the forward hit the header straight into the hands of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu as Bengaluru kept their lead intact to get three points.

Chennaiyin FC will now face Kerala Blasters in Chennai on Friday, 16 February, while Bengaluru FC will take on Jamshedpur FC on Sunday, 11 February.