Half Time: Battle of wits as Kerala and Mumbai cancel out each other to remain goalless
Kerala Blasters - Stephen Bywater; Gurwinder Singh, Peter Ramage, Bruno Perone, C.K. Vineeth, Pulga, Rahul Bheke, Mehtab Hossain, Manandeep Singh, Chris Dagnall, Marcus Williams
Mumbai City - Debjit Majumder, Darren O'Dea, Pavel Cmovs, Frantz Bertin, Aitor, Thangjam Saran Singh, Pratesh Shirodkar, Cristian Bustos, Gabriel Fernandes, Sony Norde, Subash Singh
An early period of pressure saw the visitors Mumbai City get off to a strong start, but lost ground slowly as the hosts made some calculated moves to crawl back into the game, in a tough fixture against last season's finalists Kerala Blasters in front of a nearly sold out crowd in Kochi.
Both teams featured quite a few changes in their starting line ups for both the teams. Kerala coach Peter Taylor decided to start Gurwinder Singh ahead of Currais, and Pulga instead of Peter Carvalho. Surprisingly, Mohammad Rafi, who scored a goal and provided an assist in the previous game, was dropped out of the starting line-up.
Mumbai City player-coach Nicolas Anelka kept himself off the team entirely; he wasn't even among the named substitutes. He opted for a changed formation; 4-4-2 with Sony Norde and Subash Singh helming the attack. Apart from Subash, Debjit Majumdar, best goalkeeper of the I-League 2014-15 season for Mohun Bagan, was also handed an ISL debut. Darren O'Dea was slotted into the starting XI in lue of Ashutosh Mehta, while late signing Thoangjam Saran Singh was started ahead of Andre Moritz.
At the beginning, Mumbai City looked the more threatening side as Sony Norde made some runs into the Kerala Blasters penalty box. He created a couple of chances and even attracted a nasty foul from Gurwinder Singh. When his team got a corner, he sent in a perfectly timed shot that was well deflected by Subash Singh, but Kerala keeper Bywater pulled off a difficult save by correctly judging the ball's trajectory through a jungle of defenders.
Kerala threatened for the first time through a typical Rahul Bheke long throw-in. Then Pulga sent in a high ball which dipped threateningly into its target, leading to Debjit Majumder pulling a difficult one-handed over the bar.
As the game went on it became a case of classic percentage. Both sides prioritised defence, played a lot of long balls and often lost the ball in the build-up around midfield.
Gabriel Fernandes was making himself known past the half hour mark. His one-two with Subash created a good chance for Sony Norde and earned them a corner. Next minute he took a cross for Bustos and ran with it, past Perone, and shot at the but Peter Ramage got a touch on it which slowed it down for Bywater to collect. Then Gabriel was down defending, blocking Marcus and averting danger.
Norde kept busy. He was making runs up the right flank taking shots. But it all ended up being cleared.
For Kerala Blasters, striker Chris Dagnall wasn't having the best of times. He got a good chance around the 42 minute mark but failed to make a clean shot of it and Debjit got hold of the ball.
And then Mumbai City were denied a penalty. Peter Ramage brought down Subash Singh inside the Kerala Blasters, but the referee did not make the right call. Having a crucial decision going against the team hurts, especially in a tough match like this, and the players were rightfully disappointed.
The half ended 0-0 with none of the teams coming too close to scoring. Kerala lacked the lethal pace up front, as it did in the first half of the previous game. But maybe the introduction of Sanchez Watt will change the face of the game, just like it did in the previous game. For Mumbai City, apart from the bitter penalty decision letdown, they will be happy with the way they have held out so far, and definitely wouldn't mind some more of the same in a tough away game like this.
