MATCH REPORT: Delhi overcome 2-goal deficit to deny Kerala a consolation win in 6-goal thriller

THE GAME WENT ON through twists and turns, as Delhi Dynamos and Kerala Blasters tested each other till the very last minutes, and ended the contest in a 3-3 draw, with 6 different players getting on the scoresheet in this thoroughly entertaining encounter.

Roberto Carlos chose to rest a lot of his first-choice players as he came into the game with a semi-final berth already secured. He fielded Subhasish Roy Chowdhury at goal, and gave starts to the likes of Serginho Greene and Shylo Malsawmtlunanga. He also brought John Arne Riise, Gustavo Marmentini and Adil Nabi back into the starting eleven. Crucial players like Robin Singh, Richard Gadze and Vinicius started from the bench.

Terry Phelan, meanwhile, made a wholesale change to the Kerala Blasters side that lost 1-5 to Goa at the previous game. He brought in Sandip Nandy at goal, and drafted Bruno Perone, Rodrigo Arroz, Mehtab Hossain, Cavin Lobo, Ishfaq Ahmed and Joao Coimbra into the starting line-up. 

Like the match on the previous night, this game too began with both teams drawing blood early on. 7 minutes in, a lofted ball from Florent Malouda saw Gustavo Marmentini run a great length to reach it, then putting a one-touch finisher on it. Delhi were 1-0 ahead. 

And then Kerala turned around and got even. A ball from Peter Ramage came into the Delhi box, Anas Edathodika decided to try a low header to clear the ball. But he completely misjudged the ball and it reached Chris Dagnall who was standing right behind him. He tapped it in with ease. 1-1.

Two goals within the first 10 minutes, and yet the match was still warming up. Soon, a corner kick taken by Mehtab Hossain got punched into his own goal by Subhasish. But while he was in the air trying to catch the ball, Dagnall had slightly nudged him which caused him to lose control over the ball. The referee spotted the interference and called it a foul, disallowing the goal.

But Kerala were looking dangerous and soon they got their goal. Antonio German passed the ball to Joao Coimbra who sent a beautifully swinging ball into a corner of the post and sent Kerala 1-2 ahead.

Florent Malouda immediately sought an equalizer but his run was botched by Sandesh Jhingan who brought him down and earned a yellow card. 

By now, Antonio German was becoming more and more active up front. He fed Dagnall a good ball that saw the latter take a good left footed shot at the goal but Subhasish kept it out.

But German got his name on the scoresheet soon after. Mehtab Hosain delivered the ball into the box and German put a great left footed shot, taken at a difficult angle, straight into the net. Kerala were now very much in front, with Delhi trailing 1-3.

But the Dynamos had one more trick left up their sleeve that made the game come back alive. Within a minute of German's goal, Shylo sent a great lifted pass to Nabi whose header directed the ball towards the net at full force. It was 2-3, and the no-holds-barred goalfest of the first half ended there with the second half open for a potential fight to the finish.

The second period started with Mehtab Hossain picking up his customary booking by bringing down Florent Malouda. Then Delhi had an early chance to get even with Kerala as Serginho Greene failed to keep a short-range header on target. Soon afterwards, he picked up his own yellow for a foul.

Roberto Carlos sent Richard Gadze in to replace Florent Malouda in order to fire up the forward line. Terry Phelan replied by replacing Mehtab with Rahul Bheke and Joao Coimbra with Pulga. 

Newly introduced Gadze initiated a good move, passing the ball to Gustavo Dos Santos who ran in with only the keeper ahead, with Sandesh Jhingan tailing him. Having no other option to stop him, Sandesh grabbed and pulled his shirt back, causing him to lose lose control and shoot the ball wide. Gustavo fervently appealed for a foul but the referee had not seen the incident properly; otherwise Sandesh, already on a yellow card, could well have been sent off. 

The match entered the last 15 minutes of regulation time and Roberto took his remaining substitutions. Hans Mulder and Shylo Mama made way for Vinicius Ferreira and Francis Fernandes. 

Adil Nabi's managed to send a good through ball to Gadze and the striker shot it wide; but the offside flag was up anyway. Then a high ball into the Kerala box saw Sandip Nandy jump up to collect but he fumbled with the ball and fell badly when a hopeful Adil Nabi ran into him. Moments later Sandip sprung into action again as a good through ball saw Gadze chase it into the box but the keeper had run ahead, jumped onto the ball and save it. 

Sehnaj Singh, who had picked up a yellow card moments earlier, took everyone by surprise in the 92nd minute by orchestrating the move of the match. A pass from Riise had reached him when he was some 35 yards out, and he fired away from there with absolute impunity, sending the ball in through a narrow window into the goal. Just when it looked like Kerala had managed to grab a consolation win in their last match of the season, Delhi managed to come back and claim a draw. 

Roberto Carlos will be happy with this result. He rested a number of his main players for this game and his players still showed spirit, refusing to back down even after going down by 2 goals, and recovering from there. They are sitting on 22 points from 13 matches, and it looks like they are set to finish 2nd or 3rd in the table and face FC Goa in the semi-finals. This should give Carlos a number of ideas about what to do and who to field in their last regular season match, also against FC Goa, which is expected to become more or less a practice match for both teams ahead of the real test of the playoffs.

For Kerala Blasters, this match has summed up their season. They started full of potential, and seemed it seemed like victory was within their grasp; but they fizzled out in the end, allowing the opponents to deny them the full points. Fighting hard but falling short has been a recurring theme for them this year, be it under Peter Taylor or David Platt. This draw has opened up a hope of minuscule "redemption" for them, though; they have finished with 13 points from 14 matches, and if Mumbai City lose to Atletico de Kolkata tomorrow night, Kerala will be spared the humiliation of being the last boys of the tournament. 

But if there is one positive thing that the Kerala players, coaches and management will take away from ISL 2015 is the way their fans stood by them. They were having the worst time on the pitch, losing game after game and languishing at the bottom of the table, yet their fans turned out in numbers, filling the stadium in Kochi and even supporting them away from home. Even tonight there were a good number of Kerala fans who had showed up, dressed in yellow, to support a team that had no chances of going through to the semi-finals, and had a disappointing season by any definition. They cheered for the team as they fell back, then got even, then took a lead, then lost the advantage again. Even at full-time, they were screaming their unconditional love for the team at the top of their voice. Delhi Dynamos, who are entering the semi-finals for the first time, will be jealous of this kind of support. And that's what makes one wonder if Kerala Blasters were indeed the winner tonight, and this year, in many ways.