MARGAO:Even before FC Goa could fathom what was happening, Elano was hitting them where it matters the most with royal Brazilian flair.
Colombian attacker Stiven Mendoza may have dominated the score-sheet with the season’s first hat-trick but it was the Chennaiyin FC captain who ran the show, until he was withdrawn with the game buried.
The former Santos and Manchester City star pierced the rival defence, marshalled by his former Brazil teammate Lucio, almost at will as Marco Materazzi’s men made their domination count to pump four goals past a hapless Goan keeper, Elinton Andrade, and post their first win this ISL. The playmaker himself scored one to round of the memorable evening. Inside the first four minutes, Elano twice tore apart the Goan defence with incisive through balls for Mendoza and Jayesh Rane, both of whom shot straight to the keeper.
The opening goal didn’t take long as Mendoza ran on to another sublime pass from Elano. After his initial effort deflected off Andrade, he took advantage of a collision on the goal line between the keeper and Gregory Arnolin to stab the ball home.
Chennaiyin came in with four changes, and two of them - Jayesh Rane taking the place of Balwant Singh in attack and midfielder Raphael Augusto coming for the more defensive minded Manuele Blasi - made a huge difference.
It was after the first 15 minutes that the hosts began to see some possession, but their four-man defence was constantly reeling, amid confusion, as the opposition kept coming at them from all directions. After an indirect freekick awarded inside the box went astray, Elano struck before half-time. Debabrata Roy held on to the ball a tad too long, only for Thoi Singh - who gave a torrid time to the Goa defender on the right – to rob him and relay the ball to Rane who in turn found his skipper free on the left.
The counter did the trick for Chennaiyin’s third, immediately after the hosts had brought on Darryl Duffy. Elano, dribbled past a couple of defenders and placed the ball on a platter for Mendoza who chipped the keeper.
The Colombian completed his hat-trick with a sweetly taken strike after chesting down a cross field ball from Bruno Pellissary, Elano’s substitute.
“We began with the right attitude, and for the whole game, we kept the same attitude. Today, we had the right understanding between defenders, midfielders and the strikers,” said Chennaiyin coach Marco Materazzi.
Goa may have had a case for a penalty when Jofre Gonzalez fell under a challenge with the score reading 2-0. Later, a thunderous drive from C S Sabeeth bounced after crashing against the bar, amid doubts whether the ball had actually crossed the line. With no goal-line technology available, it was difficult to pick, summing up the night for the hosts.