COIMBATORE: A Santu Singh free-kick handed Gokulam Kerala a solitary goal victory over Chennai City in their I-League match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today.
Singh scored from the set-piece in the 60th minute to give the Kerala side their second win of the season.
The first half was mostly dominated by the home side and forward Jean-Micheal Joachim's audacious chip off a pass by his skipper Soosairaj landed on the roof of the net.
The same combination troubled the Gokulam defence a few minutes later when Soosairaj's corner fell perfectly for the French striker inside the box. Joachim's shot, however, was blocked by a desperate defence.
Joachim then chipped a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Murilo who rushed into the box and sent a low shot at Bilal. The goalkeeper went down in time to save the shot and keep his team in the game.
Gokulam, who were slow to come out of their blocks, increased the pace of the game as the first-half wore on.
Winger Salman was at the forefront of two golden chances for the visitors to break the deadlock at the stroke of half-time.
The forward chested down a ball into the box for an onrushing Kivi Zhimomi who curled his effort wide of the post.
A minute later, Salman was at the end of a through-ball into the box but flashed his effort wide from close-range.
The visitors shocked the home side at the hour-mark by scoring the goal which turned out to be the match-winner. A free-kick delivered into the box by Santu Singh grazed the head of Kivi Zhimombi before hitting the net.
A desperate Chennai City coach V Soundararajan shuffled his team around in search of an equaliser but his star forward Murilo picked up an injury in the final stages of the match and had to be taken off.