Jamshedpur FC fought back from two goals down on Thursday to salvage a 2-2 draw against Chennaiyin FC at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in the Indian Super League.
The Marina Machans took a 2-0 lead in the first half through Farukh Choudhary and Ninthoinganba Meetei.
Choudhary met a cross by Rafael Crivellaro and headed it into the top right corner to open the scoring in the ninth minute of the match.
The former Mumbai City FC winger returned the favour soon afterwards, spotting Crivellaro with space in front of him and playing a pass outside of the box in the 28th minute. Debjit Majumder held his ground to save the Brazilian’s shot at the centre of the goal though.
The visitors continued to sustain periods of dominance upfront. Their quick-footed forwards earned multiple fouls from promising positions, and one of them led to Meetei doubling their lead with his second goal of the campaign.
In the 40th minute, Jordan Murray saw Meetei in a potential goal-scoring spot on the right side of the box, and he delivered him a short pass that the 22-year-old immediately shot past TP Rehenesh.
Jamshedpur took a moment, gathered back their momentum, and cut Chennaiyin’s lead after Pachuau Laldinpuia nodded the ball home in the fourth minute of added time of the first half.
It was a culmination of a passage of play where the home team had pegged Chennaiyin back on the field. A moment prior to this goal, Laldinpuia had shown timely awareness to set up Muhammed Uvais’ strike. The latter faltered, but the former made up for it with a header from a very close range.
That goal perhaps shifted the momentum in the favour of Scott Cooper and his team. Steve Ambri and Imran Khan ran circles around the Chennaiyin backline in the opening 15 minutes of the second half. However, Cooper perhaps felt the need of an imposing presence upfront, and hence brought in Daniel Chima Chukwu in place of Ambri in the 61st minute.
That move paid off, with Chukwu acting as the target man in the Chennaiyin box, allowing Jamshedpur to go more direct in their approach. After a few close attempts, he headed in a cross by Nikhil Barla in the 90th minute, as Owen Coyle’s quest to beat his former team in their home turf vanquished with both sides settling for a point each.