MATCH REPORT: Kerala lucky in draw; denied penalties, Mumbai suffer in tactical battle

TWO HALVES OF calculated tactical battle saw Kerala Blasters and Mumbai City cancel each other out in a 0-0 draw in front of a jam-packed crowd of 61,000+ fans in Kochi tonight. But Mumbai will be the more disappointed side due to being denied two legitimate penalties towards the end of each half which could have easily sealed the game for them.

Both sides featured quite a few changes in their starting line ups. 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 lieu 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 goal, 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 go 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. For Mumbai City, other than the penalty decision letdown, things had gone pretty okay, as they managed to hold out against a strong side in a difficult away match.

The second half began with another imposing few minutes from Mumbai City. An O'Dea cross for Subash Singh went off target. A shot from Saran found Bywater after a deflection.

Then came the first yellow card of the game. Bywater had supplied the ball to Dagnall, and Frantz Bertin challenged him with sky-high studs. It was a nasty tackle and Frantz was lucky to get away with just yellow.

Subash got into the action again as a Gabriel pass saw him take a shot straight at the goal, but Bywater threw himself and slapped it away with one hand.

Then Kerala got a good chance as Pratesh lost the ball to Mehtab Hossain, who, instead of passing to Dagnall who was in a better position, went for glory and his shot went above the bar. 

The tinkering from sidelines started near the hour mark. Manandeep Singh made away for Ishfaq Ahmed. Soon afterwards Mumbai City made a double sub; took off Aitor and Ashutosh Mehta came on in his stead. Then it was Saran who made way for Selim Benachour. 

Then Kerala put some pressure on Mumbai, again through a long throw by Rahul Bheke. The ball flew into the box, and the home side had two shots from the scrumble, in the end it was cleared by Subash.

For the last twenty minutes, Kerala went for the kill with Sanchez Watt replacing Dagnall up front. But it was Mumbai City's Benachour who kept things chugging, finding Subash a few times.

But Watt got his moment. He managed to clear the Mumbai City defensive line, but Debjit pulled off a great save, charging forward and throwing himself onto the striker's feet with impeccable timing and deflecting the ball with his body. 

Sony Norde then got another gem of a chance when he fooled three defenders, found newly introduced Piquionne, who shot straight and Bywater could not reach it... but the ball bounced off the post and there it was, the best chance of the game gone begging by an inch.

But then something worse happened to Mumbai City. Piquionne was brought down inside the penalty box in the very last minute by Gurwinder Singh. That was a penalty any time of the day, but the away side were denied a second spot-kick as the referee failed to spot the foul. The match ended in an air of bitterness, in a 0-0 draw, where Mumbai City will surely feel they have been denied a victory by poor refereeing decisions. But some poor finishing and woodwork-hitting antics from their forward line was also to be blamed for awarding Stephen Bywater a clean sheet.

Although Kerala Blasters should be disappointed with a home draw ahead of a difficult few away games, Peter Taylor will actually be glad he secured a point tonight. Overall there was no urgency from him to win the match anyway; Sanchez Watt was introduced too late to have a meaningful impact. The decision to drop Mohammad Rafi from the starting line-up was surprising as well. Some of the best actions up front in the previous game came from a combo of Rafi and Watt, and both of them had scored.

Nicolas Anelka, too, was guilty of a similar sin; dropping Frederic Piquionne from the squad to make things heavier in the back. Although his decision would be justified by the way Subash Singh has performed tonight; his constant troubling of the Kerala defence earned him a well-deserved Hero of the Match award. Sony Norde did a good job as well, and Debjit Majumder was absolutely stellar in his ISL debut. Anelka and Mumbai City fans can take a lot of positives away from their performance tonight. 

But in an otherwise pleasing game of tactics, the eyesore was the refereeing. Two penalties not given to the away side is always a disaster in terms of facilitating fair-play. There has already been a lot of negative talk around the standard of officiating in the ISL this season, and tonight will not help the organisers' cause of presenting ISL as a high quality product at all. 

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