Kerala Blasters went to Kolkata for the reverse fixture of their first home win this season with hopes of repeating the same results as the latter. The visitors looked clueless in midfield when a resurging East Bengal side dominated the game both in the midfield and the defense, ensuring their victory with the final score of 2-1. Let’s take a look at some of the highlight-worthy events of the game.
Interim head coaches TG Purushothaman and Tomasz Tchorz made two changes to the side that drew NEUFC last game that being Naocha, returning from his suspension to replace Aiban who is currently suspended, and the inclusion of their star-striker Jesus Jiminez in place of Kwame Peprah. The Blasters also missed the services of their new signing, Dusan Lagator as he was suspended just before the game because of a pending suspension from his previous club, which was belatedly communicated by the Hungarian FA to AIFF.
Oscar Bruzon on the other hand also made two changes in a similar fashion to KBFC. Souvik coming back from suspension replaced Nandha who is currently suspended, and the inclusion of their captain Cleiton Silva in place of David.
The game began with both sides having end-to-end action, but it was East Bengal who looked more threatening in attack. East Bengal came close to breaking the deadlock in the 16th minute of the game when a freekick by Cleiton was spilled by Sachin Suresh in goal, but an oncoming Celis couldn’t capitalize on it as the ball was eventually defended by the Blasters’ defense.
East Bengal got the lead anyway in the 19th minute of the game after a brilliant run by PV Vishnu, who chipped the ball over Sachin from a horrible, missed clearance attempt from Korou led the ball to bobble into the net giving EB the crucial lead. The Game was mostly under the control of EB from there on as the Blasters found themselves under immense pressure causing consequent misplaced passes leading to EB having the majority of the ball possession under their feet.
Some eyebrows were raised against the referee when skipper Adrian Luna was pushed from behind by Lalchungnunga but wasn’t called out. East Bengal came close to scoring a second goal when Celis’s long-range shot beat Sachin Suresh at the near post just to hit the post and get cleared away. The game went to the half-time break without much happening in the later stages of the first half.
Tomasz Tchorz and T.G. Purushothaman decided to go all out attacking in the second half as they subbed in Kwame Peprah to bolster the attack by subbing off their Montenegrin Centre-back Milos Drincic in the 58th minute. The Blasters made another substitution in the 67th minute subbing off Korou for Amawia.
All hell broke loose in the 67th minute when Celis slammed into the Blasters’ captain Adrian Luna trying to block his quick free-kick attempt. After the outbursts from both sides were settled, Celis and Freddy were booked for their actions during the heated situation. In the 72nd Minute, Hijazi Maher doubled EB’s lead, latching onto a well taken corner by ex-KBFC man, Naorem Mahesh.
Both sides made changes near the 80-minute mark, with EB bringing in Mark Zothanpuia, subbing off goal scorer PV Vishnu and KB bringing in Danish Farooq, replacing Vibin Mohanan in the midfield. Blasters had chance to get one back in the 81st minute but Jesus’s shot sailed just over the bar. Jeakson was booked a few minutes later for a foul on Noah Sadaoui.
Kerala caught themselves a glimmer of hope in the 85th minute when a loose ball after an Adrian Luna freekick was converted miraculously by substitute Danish Farooq who volleyed the ball into the net giving no chance to his former teammate Gill in goal. But that wasn’t enough to give the visitors a point as all of the consequent attacks by the Blasters were either blocked or went over the crossbar.
EB’s parking the bus strategy worked out well for the home side as they defended their lead well, but controversy erupted again over another wrong call by the referee in the 93rd minute when substitute Sayan Banerjee went both studs up against Sandeep Singh but wasn’t even called out as a foul. The game ended 2-1 in favor of the hosts as the referee blew the final whistle.
Both T.G. Purushothaman and Tomasz Tchorz wouldn’t be happy with their team’s performance tonight as this result might become a huge blow to their playoff hopes as the league goes on. On the other hand, Oscar would be delighted with his team’s performance as they end their losing streak at home. ISL, AIFF and Trevor Kettle needs to re-evaluate on ISL refereeing as the refereeing has been anything but good this season.
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