Pune City fail to break Chennaiyin jinx

PUNE: FC Pune City’s miserable record against Chennaiyin FC continued after losing 0-1 in an Indian Super League clash at the Balewadi stadium here on Sunday. The Stallions have not managed to beat the Chennai outfit on seven occasions now.Chennai skipper Henrique Sereno’s late header proved to be the difference in a game where clear cut chances were few and far between. The win takes Chennaiyin FC to second place in the ISL table with 6 points while the home side drop down one place to third.Coming on the back of successive wins, the home side knocked the ball about confidently in the opening exchanges but the first chance fell to Chennaiyin FC. An in-swinging corner was met by Dhanpal Ganesh but his header went into the side netting.There were three more occasions when the ball ended up in the side netting before Chennai keeper Karanjit Singh made the first save of the match in the 22nd minute. Marcelinho whipped in a free kick from 35 yards and it went through a sea of bodies all the way to the keeper who pushed it away for a corner. On the half hour mark, striker Emiliano Alfaro thought he had given his team the lead after tapping in a cross from Baljit Sahni only for the linesman to raise his flag for offside.In the 38th minute, Chennai midfielder Bikramjit Singh received the ball outside the 18-yard box and tried to curl one in but was kept out by a flying Vishal Kaith, who started in goal for the first time this season. The visitors had another chance to go 1-0 up before the break when Inigo Calderon’s cross was headed back across the box by Jerry but Rafa Lopez was on hand to clear the danger.Almost 20 minutes into the second half, Kaith nearly gifted Chennai the opening goal after spilling a routine cross into the path of Bikramjit but his effort was cleared off the line by Rafa. Thirteen minutes from time, Alfaro found himself through on goal after a long clearance from the back but he completely miscued his effort.