It looked like marquee player Elano had given the Chennaiyin FC fans a wonderful gift this Diwali 2015 with all three points, but NorthEast United FC made sure not to let that happen on Wednesday evening in Chennai.
The away side came from behind on a night marred by lightning and thunderstorms to record a 2-1 win against the home side in the Indian Super League game at the Marina Arena.
Elano found the back of the net in the 33rd minute, following the start of play after the game got suspended for more than 30 minutes owing to bad weather conditions. However, Diomansy Kamara cancelled that goal in the 44th minute and made sure the travelling fans got their reason to cheer on Diwali.
Silas came on in the second half to replace his compatriot Simao, and the Portuguese made an instant impact by capitalising on Kamara's well-fed ball to get the winning goal of the game in the 72nd minute.
The home side could have got the lead once again in the 57th minute through Stiven Mendoza, but the linesman made a poor decision to call the move an offside and disallow the goal. The Colombian chipped the ball, with Rehenesh out of his line, but the travelling ball inside the net wasn't deemed as a goal.
Mendoza also missed a sitter in the 87th minute from close-range.
Chennaiyin FC midfield maestro Elano, however, took his chances right from the start as he came dangerously close to scoring on a number of occasions in the first half, but Rehenesh was up for it. The NorthEast Unuited FC custodian gave a great display of his reflexes throughout the match to win all the plaudits from the fans.
The Indian goalkeeper displayed brilliant skills to thwart Thoi Singh and Raphael Augusto on either half of the game, and help his side prevent from conceding any more.
For the away side, Seityasen Singh came dangerously close to scoring from a huge distance in the first half, but his scooped shot went inches over the goal. Marco Materazzi's side were dominating the play in the entire game, to be precise, and the away side only had sporadic attempts.
Kamara can only thank his stars that he capitalised on a rebound ball that came off goalkeeper Edel Bete to get his much-needed equaliser for the game. And Silas provided the icing on the cake when he slotted in the second for the away side following some subtle dribbling inside the box.
Catch the moments from the game HERE.
