Deependra Negi and Iain Hume secured all three points for Kerala Blasters
Kerala Blasters FC came
from behind to beat Delhi Dynamos FC 2 – 1 in Hero Indian Super League (ISL)
2017-18 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Saturday.
Kalu Uche gave
the Lions the lead from the spot in the first half, before Deependra Negi’s
strike and Iain Hume’s penalty in the second period secured all three points
for the home side. Pratik Chowdhary was also shown a red towards the end of the
game after picking up a second yellow.
The game had a good flow
to begin with as both teams took turns to get into the final third. The hosts
fashioned the first opportunity of the game in the 12th minute when a defensive
clearance fell for Milan Singh and he unleashed a rasping effort along the
ground from long range.
Custodian Arnab Das Sharma managed to keep out the
stinging drive, and when Iain Hume turned in the rebound, he was flagged
offside.
Kerala were then really
let off the hook in the 27th minute. Matias Mirabaje latched on to a loose ball
and let fly. The ball took a deflection off a defender and seemed to be looping
in, but goalkeeper Subhasish Roy came up with a brilliant finger-tip save.
The Lions took the lead
five minutes after the half-hour mark. After Prasanth K pulled Seityasen Singh
down in the box to concede a penalty, Uche stepped up and gave Roy no chance
with his well-taken spot-kick.
The hosts nearly found
an equaliser two minutes before the break. Jackichand Singh laid off the ball
for Milan to take a powerful shot from the edge of the box, following which the
ball missed the target by inches. That happened to be the last chance of the
half as the visitors went into the break with a one-goal advantage.
After the restart,
Kerala took just three minutes to equalise. Jackichand’s attempted cross was
looping in towards goal, and Arnab tipped it behind for a corner. The former
took the resulting corner from which substitute Negi stuck out his leg to put
the ball in the back of the net.
Ten minutes later, Negi
nearly got a second. Lalruatthara put in the cross and the 19-year-old tried to
flick it into the goal with his head and ended up just missing the target. The
72nd minute saw substitute Nandhakumar Sekar deliver a delightful cross from
the right. Uche’s header though, went over the target.
With a quarter of an
hour remaining, Kerala went ahead. Chowdhary clipped and brought down Negi in
the box, and Hume stepped up and scored from the resulting penalty, sending
Arnab the wrong way.
Five minutes from time,
two substitutes combined as Loken Meitei swung in a cross from the right, and
Kerala’s new signing Gudjon Baldvinsson attempted a spectacular volley. The
Icelander, however, could not connect properly.
The night then ended on
a sour note for Delhi as Chowdhary got booked for a second bookable offence
deep into injury time to receive his marching orders. It proved to be the last
bit of action from the match as the Blasters climbed to the fifth spot with the
win.
MATCH AWARDS
Club Award: Kerala
Blasters FC
Swift Moment of the
Match: Subhasish Roy
DHL Winning Pass of the
Match: Jackichand Singh
Amul Fittest Player: Wes
Brown
Emerging Player: Munmun
Lugun
Hero of the Match:
Deependra Negi