ISL 2017: Kerala Blasters hold ATK to a goalless draw in mellow ISL 4 opening game

THE OPENING NIGHT OF Indian Super League season 4 turned out a goalless draw between last year's finalists Kerala Blasters and ATK.

In a rather tedious match where both teams wanted to play safe, the visitors ATK seemed more inclined to attack. Through a seamless connection between the wing and the forwards, ATK pushed for an early testing of the home team's defence, but Hitesh Sharma faced a hard tackle from KBFC captain Sandesh Jhingan.

The move set the tone for the game; a staredown between ATK's attackers and KBFC's defenders. After Milan Singh became adventurous a couple of times in the early minutes (perhaps a strategy from coach Rene Meulensteen to use the defensive midfielder as a trojan horse to drag away defenders from their marks) and shot off the target, the game started to move more and more towards the midfield. Here, ATK could see much more of the ball but KBFC didn't mind that too much.

Hitesh Sharma got a sudden right footer on target but the Blasters' keeper Rachubka quickly reacted and saved that. Then Rupert Nongrum tried to run past the defensive line of KBFC so Lalruatthara brought him down. The professional foul presented ATK with a free kick just outside the box... but they failed to capitalize.

Towards the end of the first half Rino Anto initiated a couple of flank attacks but KBFC didn't really create chances from those crosses. Early in the second half, Vineeth got a clear shot at the goal but Debjit made a great save to deny him.

As the game reached the hour mark, players had visibly slowed down and showed signs of fatigue. The KBFC coach replaced his star striker Iain Hume with Sifneos. Teddy Sherringham, meanwhile, introduced Robin Singh in place of Kuqi.

At the 70 minute mark, ATK came their closest as a peach of a shot from Zequinha went through two defenders and two ATK attackers, completely blindsiding keeper Rachubka in the process. The custodian was beaten... but unfortunately for the visitors the ball came off the far post.

As the game neared the end, KBFC tried out young winger Prasanth Karuthadathkuni who made a couple of moves but didn't get much out of it. Even ATK introduced Jackichand Singh to try and create some last minute pace but that didn't work for them either. The match ended in a 0-0 draw.

It seemed like both teams wanted to avoid defeat at all costs. ATK, playing an away game, were satisfied with a point. KBFC just wanted to make sure they didn't concede first. Dimitar Berbatov, who had a couple of good moments, stood almost isolated up front, hardly getting any good service from the KBFC midfielders and wingers.

At the end of the day, Teddy Sherringham will feel unlucky due to Zequinha's shot hitting the post. But neither coach will be too disappointed because both teams have gotten off to a somewhat stable start, and it's all about making it to the top four anyway.