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Kerala Blasters registered their first ever win in the inaugural edition of the Hero Indian Super League after edging past Pune City at their home with a score line 2-1. Former French International and marquee player David Trezeguet found the net for the home side, while CS Sabeeth and Penn Orji found the net for the away side in a match that saw Blasters dominating their opposition in a tight encounter held atthe Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune.Here we look at the five talking points of the match:
#1 Early bookings made for a tight first half
Both the home and the away side made it into the referee’s book immediately after the game started. The two yellow cards came just within 5 minutes from the start of the game. Blasters full back Nirmal Chettri was the first to get into the books after a hard challenge on Pune’s John Goossens in the middle of the park. A similar challenge resulted in another booking, this time from the opposition, after Tapan Maity of Pune brought down an attacking Pedro Gusmao up front.
This resulted in very high tension in the early stages of the game as both sides were very cautious. Another card came late in the first half when Blasters defender Sandesh Jhingan brought down Pune’s Ashutosh Mehta in a very tightly contested first half which ended on level terms.
#2 Surprise first half replacements from Blasters
In a surprising and rather tactical move from Blasters, we saw two new faces being introduced into the side even before the game had finished its first half. The former Indian International Renedy Singh, who was having a pretty decent outing was replaced by another Ex-Indian International Ishfaq Ahmed in the middle of the first half, giving very little time for the veteran to prove a point after making his first start of the season.
This move from the away side came in as a surprise for many who were stupefied with the decision to replace a player with no injury concerns. Another replacement came right before the end of the first half as Kerala medio Mehtab Hossain made way for the Goan striker Milagres Gonsalves making it a four men attack for Blasters with CS Sabeeth, Iain Hume and Pedro Gusmao being the other strikers on the field for the away side.
#3 Instant impact from Penn Orji
The Kerala Blasters kicked off the match without their influential skipper Penn Orji, who had been one of their key players in the earlier games.It was a surprise move from Blasters to keep out the Nigerian play maker as they instead started off with Mehtab, Renedy and Scotsman Steven Pearson in the midfield in an unusual diamond formation of 4-3-2-1. Blasters, who played with four forwards at the same time, put constant pressure on the opposition box, but were failing miserably in converting the same into goals.
The Kerala attack got the much needed boost after Penn Orji made his entry in the field replacing the Brazilian forward Pedro Gusmao in the second half. It didn’t took him much to find the back of the net after coming on, as he converted his goal past another new comer in Pune keeper Arindam Bhattacharya.
Canadian forward Iain Hume who was the other influential player in the Kerala side helped for the goal with a great assist to Penn, helping his team find that winning edge against Pune, which won him the Hero of the Match award.
#4 Defensive lapses continue for Blasters
The Blasters have been experimenting with their side too much, yet again failing in their weak spot, the finishing. The Kerala side kicked off the game with three men in attack with CS Sabeeth and Pedro Gusmao. Irish defender Colin Falvey also made his debut for the season.
But, this wasn’t helping much for the men in yellow whose poor finishing touches were evident throughout the game. Blasters who dominated the match quite convincingly were unlucky not to win the match by a hefty score line after failing to convert nearly two dozen attempts on goal. This has been a major head ache for the David James led side who would be looking forward to improving their game for the upcoming ties, thus building on the confidence from today’s win against Pune.
#5 Blasters mark their first win of the season
The Blasters carried on their domination yet again, as they found themselves on the winning side for the first time in four outings. The win against Pune came in as a morale booster for Blasters, who had been struggling throughout the season, failing to score full points even after dominating their opposition in all their previous outings. This will lift Blasters to a much more confortable fifth place in the latest standings of the league table above Pune with four points each, differentiated only by goal difference.
The Kerala side who are gaining on their points, are yet to play their first home match, and will be looking to make a leap in the standings in the final stages of the league.
