Late Succi header helps Chennaiyin draw

A goal each from former champions Atletico de Kolkata and Chennaiyin FC resulted in a draw at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai.

Helder Positga opened the scoring for the away side late into the first half with a thumping header, but Davide Succi's 77th-minute goal gave Chennaiyin a point, making the race for a semi-final spot get even tighter.

This was Atletico's third straight draw and with three games to go with potential teams that will contest for a spot in the last four, the pressure is mounting. Chennaiyin drew their fifth game of the ISL and the defending champions find themselves in a similar position to Atletico, but with a point less and two away games remaining.

Ian Hume was rested for Atletico as Juan Belencoso partnered Postiga in attack. Chennaiyin lined up the same duo in attack that excelled against Pune City in the previous game as Jeje Lalpekhlua and Succi looked to continue their new-found partnership up front for Chennaiyin.

The stadium had a chorus of "We are the champions" since the start of the game, but it were the former champions that started the game in front gear. Javi Lara had a powerful drive deflected off Bernard Mendy that wrong-footed Chennaiyin keeper Karanjit Singh in the second minute. Postiga hit the post in the third minute. A minute later, Juan Belencoso had a header from close range go wide. Pearson then had Atletico's third header chance moments after to take Chennaiyin on the back foot early on.

But if it wasn't for the Atletico keeper Debjit Majumdar's acrobatic punch off a Hans Mulder shot, Chennaiyin would have had the lead. It all started when Raphael Augusto, who was lively throughout the first half, put a chipped ball into Jeje Lalpekhlua who headed it back to set-up Hans Mulder. Mulder, on the half-volley, struck a powerful shot which Debjit saved with a one-handed punch.

That was Chennaiyin's best chance of the half as things got worse when Jeje limped off in the 20th minute.

Postiga redeemed himself for the early miss when he thumped home a header in the 39th minute to give Atletico the lead. It was a straight forward goal. Javi Lara freed up Pritam Kotal on the right with a through ball and the right-back put in a curling ball which Postiga met emphatically to score his second goal of the season.

With a disappointing first half behind them, Chennaiyin came into the second half with more intent. Five minutes in, Wadoo's cross from the right was cleared frantically by Arnab Mondal. Mendy had a shot that went wide. Succi came closest to find the equaliser when Zakeer Mundampara put him through on the right hand side of the box, but the angle was too acute for the Italian to find the net.

Materazzi then bought on striker Dudu Omagbemi for midfielder Mulder as the home side went all out to level the score.

The pressure paid off as Succi rounded off a quality move to bring it all level. It was central defender Eli Sabia who created the goal. The Brazillain showed great skill to go past Stephen Pearson on the far right flank following a corner and with no one marking him, Sabia picked Succi in the box who headed in from the center of the box for the equaliser with 13 minutes left in the game.

Chennaiyin didn't stop putting the pressure as the momentum clearly shifted to Materazzi's side. There were five shots in the final 10 minutes from both sides trying to find the deciding goal, before both teams settled for a point each in Chennai.