Half Time Report: Kerala and NE play tight, but Blasters create more chances
Starting Line-Ups:
Kerala Blasters FC: Stephen Bywater, Marcus Williams, Bruno Perone, Peter Ramage, Rahul Bheke, C.K. Vineeth, Josue, Peter Carvalho, Mehtab Hossain, Chris Dagnall, Mohammad Rafi.
NorthEast United FC: Rehenesh TP, Miguel Garcia, Reagan Singh, Cedric Hengbart, Silas, Bruno Herrero Arias, Siam Hanghal, Boithang Haokip, Seityasen Singh, Diomansy Kamara, Nicolas Velez
BOTH MANAGERS chose to go with a healthy mix of youth and experience. Kerala Blsters coach sought the security of the seasoned warriors at goal and up front (Stephen Bywater and Chris Dagnall), which meant the young ex-Arsenal Sanchez Watt was starting from the bench. In the defence he had the British duo Marcus Williams and Peter Ramage, supported by the Brazilian Bruno Perona and young Indian Rahul Bheke. His midfield had the experienced presence of Mehtab Hossain and Peter Carvalho along with the raw youth of C.K. Vineeth and Josue Currais. Mohammad Rafi was there up front to support Dagnall.
Cesar Farias had a young and an experienced striker in Nicolas Velez and Diomansy Kamara. Young Indians Seityasen Singh, Boithang Haokip and Siam Hanghal dominated the midfield, connecting with defender Reagan Singh and Rehenesh TP in goal, forming the home-grown backbone of the team. But fortifying the defence were the likes of Miguel Garcia, Cedric Hengbart, Silas and Bruno Herrro.
The match started with NorthEast United hogging more of the ball and trying to slowly build up their attacks. But while the home side was losing the ball early, they were definitely the more aggressive ones on the pitch. Rehenesh TP, a Keralite born and bred, was put to task early by Kerala as they kept breaching the NEUFC defensive line-up, forcing him to come off his line and attempt a block. Early on, Dagnall attracted a run-in from Rehenesh, and the ball went to Mohammad Rafi who had an open goal to tap into but shot wide.
This early play was a perfect sign of things to come as Kerala frustrated the visitors again and again, only to find themselves miss those chances due to poor finishing.
NEUFC did manage to test Kerala keeper Bywater about 11 minutes in when Silas sent a high through ball to Nicolas Velez but the British keeper rushed ahead and forced a corner.
Minutes later Kerala striker Dagnall fed Vineeth, but the latter's cross to Rahul Bheke got disrupted by Rehenesh.
Then NorthEast were denied a free kick from right outside the box as Seityasen Singh was tripped by Vineeth but the referee saw no foul play. Their bad luck with officiating continued as Nicolas Velez was wrongly flagged offside when he received a brilliant through ball.
Meanwhile Miguel Garcia picked up a muscle injury and had to be replaced by Sanju Pradhan, putting 6 Indians on the pitch for NorthEast.
The game slowed down considerably as the humidity got to the players. And by now NEUFC were crawling back into the game. Boithang Haokip ran a few raids for the visitors; first one ended in a long shot well wide, next time he tried a left footer from a free kick which was well deflected by Marcus Williams. Next time he took a shot on goal it was squatted away almost lazily.
Kerala Blasters tried a quick counter with Josue and Bheke travelling the length of the pitch together to feed Dagnall who got caught offside. Mehtab Hossain too made a dash forward, sending one to Mohammad Rafi, whose finisher went well wide of target.
Thus it was that the first goalless half of the 2nd season of ISL came about. Both teams wanted to play it tight in the first half, and created some good chances (with Kerala creating the majority of them) but poor finishing rendered it all useless.
NEUFC keeper Rehenesh TP had a particularly taxing time, fending off some dangerous attacks from the home side. But things eased a bit for him as the time wore on and the game slowed down.
Perhaps Kerala need a bit more pace up front. Perhaps subbing Dagnall in favour of the younger, faster Sanchez Watt will yield better results for the home side in the second half.
