Colombian striker Stiven Mendoza fired in his second hat-trick of the season as hosts Chennaiyin FC crushed Kerala Blasters 4-1 in an Indian Super League football encounter, in Chennai, on Saturday.
After Dhanachandra Singh opened the scoring in the third minute, Mendoza scored in the 16th, 80th and 81st minute to ensure full points for the Abhishek Bachchan co-owned franchise.
The win also took their points tally to 13 from 11 games to climb to sixth spot, keeping their faint hopes of qualifying for the semi-final alive.
Kerala continue to languish at the bottom of the table with 11 points from as many matches.
The hosts struck early when left-back Dhanachandra Singh overlapped and unleashed a volley which gave goalkeeper Stephen Bywater no chance.
It soon became 2-0 in the 16th minute when Mendoza's curling volley from the edge of 18-yard box again beat Bywater.
The home team went into break with their 2-0 lead intact and pressed hard in the second half.
The fate of the match was sealed when Mendoza scored his second goal of the match and made it 3-0.
In the 80th minute, it was a through pass that he received from Harmanjyot Singh Khabra at the edge of the box as he scored with a deft left-footed strike before he completed a well-deserved hat-trick when he neatly slotted it past Bywater in a one-to-one situation.
It was in the 90th minute that Anthony German pulled one back with a shot that deflected off Dhanchandra and changed the course catching Chennaiyin goalie Edel Bete on the wrongfoot before going into the net.
