It was not an ideal start for Kerala Blasters at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium on Friday. Trusted custodian Sachin Suresh was forced off the field 38 minutes after kick-off and Karanjit Singh had to take his place.
Making things worse, Aakash Sangwan found the net in the 60th minute to hand CFC the lead. Among the bottom-placed teams this season, CFC were not the clear favourites against the southern rivals. However, Blasters were not in their best, struggling to knit threatening attacks.
Chennaiyin FC's Ankit Mukherjee was sent off in the 81st minute for disrupting Karanjit's distribution. But the former champions managed to hold on with 10 men. They remained resillinet and denied KBFC any chance to attack despite the match going 7 minutes post the 90.
While CFC recorded a win after three defeats, it was the third consecutive defeat for the Kerala Blasters. The Kochi-based side stay fourth in the table with 26 points after 16 games while Chennaiyin got 18 after 15 outings.