Kerala Blasters met the Mariners at their home turf in Kochi in a spiritual successor of the ‘Indian El-Clasico’ with the hopes of earning a crucial point or more in their quest towards a playoff spot. The home side dominated the game statistically but the result favored Bagan who took their chances. Let’s take a look at the game’s intriguing moments.
T.G. Purushothaman and Tomasz Tchorz made no changes to the 11 that started the previous game while Molina made 3 changes – replacing a suspended Stewart and an injured Sahal and Ashish Rai with the likes of Cummings, along with Apuia and Tom Aldred, both coming back from suspension.
The game began and the home side looked formidable against the table-toppers as they looked in control of the game for the first quarter of the game. The Blasters attacked relentlessly in the opening minutes and found themselves in some great scoring opportunities, but their efforts were thwarted by a brilliant Bose in the Mohun Bagan SG backline. The Blasters eventually managed to beat Bose & Co. in the 25th minute when a ball into the box by Sandeep found an unmarked Amawia near the penalty spot but his shot on goal was saved by a flying Kaith in goal.
The tides would soon change in favor of Bagan as a pass from Liston within the box found an unmarked Maclaren just inches away from the goal line, who just had to place the ball away from a fumbling Sachin in goal to give Bagan the lead.
The visitors looked in control of the game ever since the first goal and they punished the Blasters again in the 40th minute of the game when Cummings put the ball on a plate for a rushing Maclaren who found the back of the net with a quality strike giving no chance to the goalkeeper. The Mariners found the back of the net again in the 45th minute through Maclaren who thought he had completed his hattrick just to see it being disallowed for offside. The game was paused for half-time with a two-goal advantage to the visitors.
The second half began with no changes to both sides initially, but the Blasters approached their bench in the 61st minute, bringing in Vibin Mohanan and Aibanbha Dohling in place of Amawia and Sandeep. Mohun Bagan sealed the game in the 66th minute when a ricocheted ball fell to Alberto whose shot was blocked initially but was given a free retry by the ball-watching Blasters defense to let him score his 5th goal this season, for the 2nd time against the Blasters.
Mohun Bagan made two changes in the 70th and 77th minute of the game, replacing Manvir and Cummings with the likes of Ashique and Petratos. The Blasters also made two changes in the 77th minute, replacing Peprah and Danish with Lagator and Pandita.
The game was dictated by the visitors since the tie-breaker goal by Maclaren, meaning there weren’t many if any highlight-worthy performances from the men in yellow as the game moved on exasperatedly for the home supporters. Subashish Bose got himself booked in the 78th minute.
Blasters made their final change of the game in the 85th minute bringing in Aimen for Korou. Bagan also made their last changes of the game in the 86th minute bringing in Suhail and Abhishek in place of Liston and Tangri. Hormipam got booked in the 91st minute of the game and will miss their next game against Goa due to suspension (accumulation of yellow cards). The game ended 3-0 in favor of Mohun Bagan as they kept their unbeaten record at Kochi intact.
With this win, Mohun Bagan has got themselves 3 records – Most points in a Season (49), Most Joint-Wins in A Season (15), and Most Clean-Sheets in a Season (13). This win also takes Mohun Bagan a step closer to their ISL shield, with the possibility of being the first-ever team to win back-to-back league shields in ISL. Molina would be happy with how his team performed while Tomasz and T.G. Purushothaman would be more than disappointed with how the game went as this result has put a darker shade on their slim rays of hope for a playoff spot.
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