Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi witnessed a miraculous comeback as the footballing gods blessed Kerala Blasters FC as they rose from the ashes to defeat East Bengal FC in front of the 25000+ fans in Kaloor. The Blasters were also winless in their home turf for the past three games. With this win, they did succeed in rewriting that stat.
The game was all KBFC from the very first minute throughout the first half as they dominated in each and every stat possible and the extra passion and aggression that were absent in the first match were more than present here in this match which also paved the way to this dominant victory.
Crosses were flying in from the left and the right flanks continuously but unfortunately, the finishing touch that would create waves in the stadium was not visible as most of the players failed to anticipate the accurate crosses that would eventually fall in.
We also saw the classic “Unlucky Factor” of Kerala in the 8th minute as Spanish striker, Jesus Jimenez successfully tricked the East Bengal defense and all the doors were open for a simple, clinical finish but the shot was struck off the woodwork which left the whole stadium stunned. The same situation was reflected in the open header chance of KP Rahul which he missed.
Kerala custodian Sachin Suresh was also exceptional in this match as he pulled off incredible saves throughout the game. He was tested a lot in this game which will also massively help Sachin build up that confidence for the much more challenging battles ahead.
East Bengal was also not quite the giving-up type as they were the first to create an impactful chance on the field as Madih Talal struck an amazing shot from the left extreme of the box which came dipping in but luckily, it didn’t go in.
Read: Kerala Blasters Season Preview – New Coach, New Era?
It was in the 58th minute we saw former KBFC forward, Dimitrios Diamantakos cruising down the flank, starving for an opening blow. Defender and captain, Milos Drincic did successfully interrupt the chance for the Greek marksman to score but young midfielder Vishnu PV had already converted the tricky assist provided by Dimitrios into the back of the net making it 1-0 in favor of the Kolkata giants.
They were also a bit more organized as there was consistent accuracy in every EBFC pass while Kerala Blasters failed to maintain that consistency in passing as we sometimes saw them giving up good scoring chances due to silly errors.
The stadium was silenced for a minute and we only heard the cheering and applause of the very few East Bengal supporters who came to support. The fans were in disbelief as they saw history repeat itself as the same happened in their previous meeting against the Torch Bearers, where they lost 4-2 in this very own stadium.
Then that moment arrived, the cheers and roars in the stadium intensified as they saw a Moroccan magician speeding through that left-wing and finally settling the score against their opponents. It was none other than Noah Sadaoui who easily blended in through the defense and successfully converted the goal through the legs of young goalkeeper, Prabhsukhan Gill who stood clueless in front of the strike.
In the 67th minute, Kwame Peprah stepped onto the field not knowing that he was going to be the one to change the fate of the game. 20 minutes later, he did exactly that as the Ghanaian forward scored the very crucial goal from a very difficult angle when the whole stadium erupted with joy and the adrenaline rushed through each and every player as we saw many more chances being created after that goal.
Overall East Bengal FC were the most aggressive and organized side in the whole 2nd half but as Kerala Blasters FC utilized the only errors made by their opponents, the match turned in favor of the Southern giants who enjoyed their very first victory of the season under the guidance of Swedish tactician, Mikael Stahre.
Kerala Blasters FC has now climbed up to the 6th position and is set to match up against Northeast United FC in Guwahati on September 29. East Bengal FC remains in the 12th position alongside Hyderabad FC and is set to play their next match against FC Goa on the 27th of September.
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