Agencies
Kochi, November 21
Kerala Blasters beat Atletico de Kolkata 2-1 in an Indian Super League (ISL) encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Friday. Iain Hume (4′) gave the hosts the lead early on before Pedro Gusmao (42′) added another towards the end of the first half. Fikru Tefera (55′) pulled one back for the visitors while Luis Garcia was controversially denied an injury time equalizer.
The game was off to a cracking start in Kochi as Fikru Teferra wasted a great chance to put his team ahead in the third minute. A dinked ball by Borja Fernandez bypassed the entire defense but the Ethiopian, in spite of having all the time in the world, could only shoot straight towards David James. A minute later, the Blasters replied with the classic sucker punch. Pedro Gusmao did ever so well on the left, his quick feet leaving Baljit Singh Sahni for dead. The cross had the away side’s defense in tatters as Jofre failed to stop the ball from getting to Iain Hume at the far post. Subhasish Roy Chowdhury who had failed to get to the cross in the first place was completely out of positon as Hume struck it into the empty net. Stephen Pearson intelligently decided to step over the ball, as he was clearly in an offside positon on the goal line.
In what was a frenetic start to the match, Raphael Romey almost headed the ball into his own net after Lester Fernandes had put a good ball into the box.
As Antonio Lopez Habas’ men tried their best to claw back into the match, Fikru almost did the spectacular all by himself as Sahni’s cross from the right found him perfectly positoned between two defenders. What Fikru did next was out of the world, as he turned his body around with an overhead kick but saw it go agonizingly over.
In the 37th minute, the home side had two great chances to double their lead but it was down to Subhasish’s heroics that kept his side into the match. It all started with the dynamic Pearson breaking from midfield and playing it to Hume on the right who returned the favour only to see him shoot straight to Roy Chowdhury. The rebound was missed by Milagres Gonsalves at the near post but fell to an onrushing Pedro whose shot too was somehow kept out by the Indian goalkeeper, allowing compatriot Arnab Mondal to smash it clear.
However the joy was short lived as the Blasters only had to wait for five more minutes to add to their score. Hume was involved once again as a give-and-go with Sandesh Jhingan allowed the Indian full back to direct a wonderfully shaped cross to the far post. Although Milagres missed the header, Pedro this time made no mistake as he scored his debut Indian Super League goal with a controlled strike past Roy Chowdhury.
In added time in the first half, Josemi was living dangerously as Hume almost pounced on some casual bit of play from the Spanish centre back which could have put him one-on-one with the goalkeeper. The Spaniard, to his credit recovered in time to wrestle the Canadian off the ball right on time.
The introduction of Luis Garcia at half time seemed to have injected newfound determination into the away side. It took Atletico only ten minutes to get one back and it was star striker Fikru who got it. Kingshuk Debnath, another substitute played a first touch pass towards the Ethiopian from the right which was played on to Fikru’s shin by a lunging Hengbart. Fikru who was goalless for four matches made no mistake and put it past James who was caught off guard too.
The following fifteen odd minutes seemed to be bogged down in a midfield battle with neither team carving out any decent opportunities.
With about ten minutes to go, Borja gave the ball away to Milagres who showed what he is about by breezing down the left only to be stopped by Josemi’s experience when he only had the goalkeeper to beat.
In the 83rd minute, Godwin Franco almost got lucky when his attempted cross from the right struck the crossbar, clearly catching Subhasish off guard.
A minute earlier, Garcia had shouts of a penalty turned down after he went to ground under Saumik Dey’s challenge in the box. This was after a great throughball by Borja allowed him to run into space down the right.
Controversy struck in injury time as Jofre’s weighted cross towards the far post was headed across by Fikru searching for his skipper. Garcia met it perfectly and his volley hit the crossbar and dropped inside the goal before bouncing out. The linesman however ruled that the ball had not crossed the line.
Despite being the first team to score past James in Kochi, Atletico came away empty handed, missing the opportunity to regain their spot at the top of the pile. Kerala meanwhile, edge closer to their opponents, now just one point behind the third placed Kolkatans.
