A FLURRY OF GOALS early in the second half from Corominas helped FC Goa deliver a decisive blow to Kerala Blasters, ensuring a 5-2 win at Fatorda tonight.
Kerala Blasters, coming off draws in their first three matches, were looking to establish themselves as contenders by beating one of the best teams in the league. A bad omen for them was when marquee signing Dimitar Berbatov suddenly could not continue after just 4 minutes, but that did not deter them from pressing ahead.
Both teams started the game on the offensive, and it was the Blasters who drew the first blood early in the game when Stifenos knocked in a cross from Jackichand that Laxmikant Kattimani made a serious error with. Just 6 minutes in, KBFC had the lead. But 3 minutes later, FC Goa scored on the other end when Paul Rachubka was equally buttery with a Lanzarotte shot.
Not long afterwards, Corominas played a clever ball to Lanzarotte who beat Arata and Jhingan to knock the ball into the goal past a Rachubka who was late to react. And in the half hour mark Milan Singh provided a peach of a cross to Jackichand who provided a calm finish past Kattimani who was left helpless. 2-2.
Four goals that could be attributed mostly to defensive errors underlined the first half but the game was level. Once the second half began, though, the Kerala Blasters defence got obliterated by an unstoppable spell of FC Goa attack.
First, Jahouh got the ball to Corominas who sent it clean past Rachubka 2 minutes into the second half. Then 3 minutes later a through ball saw Corominas go through the middle of the two central defenders and blast it past the keeper yet again. Then another 3 minutes later, Corominas got a cross from Lanzarotte that saw him once again run into space in the box and he put it in the net.
It was the fastest hat-trick in the history of ISL. 53 minutes into the game, FC Goa were suddenly up 5-2 and the Kerala Blasters defence was nowhere to be seen.
But to their credit, the Blasters did not give up till the end. In the last 10 minutes, kattimani was forced to make a couple of great saves, and Jackichand hit the woodwork. But the scoreline did not change. FC Goa took home the victory 5-2 and they climbed to the second spot in the points table with 9 points from 4 matches. Kerala Blasters faced the first ever defeat in their campaign, slumped at the 8th place with 3 points from 4 matches.