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Bengaluru FC climbed to the summit of the Hero Indian Super League following their 2-1 win over Kerala Blasters at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Monday. Carles Cuadrat's men were made to work hard for their three points as the humidity transpired from the atmosphere to the pitch and to the stands when the first meeting between the two sides this season unfolded in front of our eyes.
The visitors were handed an early advantage in the 17th minute when Sunil Chhetri opened the scoring, despite being in an offside position, as the Blasters were punished yet again from a harsh decision that went against them.
However, the hosts restored parity between the two sides in the 30th-minute through Slavisa Stojanovic, who made no mistake from the penalty spot after Sahal Abdul Samad was brought down by Nishu Kumar inside the area. The first half petered out from there as the two teams headed into the break with nothing to separate them.
Bengaluru FC clinched all three points in the end through Nikola Krcmarevic's own goal as they made it three straight wins on their travels to move ahead of Jamshedpur FC and NorthEast United in the table.
Albert Serran, who joined Bengaluru FC in the summer, had to fight tooth and nail at the heart of the visitors' defence to come away with the result in the end and was even involved in a heated altercation with CK Vineeth in the second half with the game tied at 1-1.
The Spaniard admitted that his team are extremely happy with the result and insisted that Bengaluru should carry on with the same confidence and build on their solid unbeaten start to the season.
“We are very happy. We have started well and we have to continue on this line,” Serran told Sportskeeda after the win over Kerala Blasters.
“So this is very good for the team to get confidence and now we have a little break to enjoy and to get energy again for the other parts of the season," he added.
Serran also revealed that Bengaluru FC knew that it would be difficult to come away with a result against Kerala Blasters in Kochi and admitted that they were working extensively in training towards coping with the opposition's strengths.
Furthermore, the defender added that the result is the perfect testament to the hard yards they have put in on the training pitch during the build-up to this crucial game away from home.
“I think it has been a very difficult game," Serran continued.
"I think we played a very good game and this team is so difficult to beat here so we were focused on training to cope with their strengths.
“I think we showed on the pitch that we were training very good," he concluded.
Bengaluru FC will next face FC Goa at the Fatorda Stadium in Margao as they aim to make it four wins in a row away from home in the ISL this season.
