Half Time Report: ATK dominate to lead with an early goal; uphill task ahead for Kerala
Starting line-ups:
Atletico de Kolkata - Juan Cataluyd, Denzil Franco, Josemi, Augustin Fernandes, Nallappan Mohanraj, Borja Fernandez, Jaime Gavilan, Nadong Bhutia, Javi Lara, Arata Izumi, Iain Hume
Kerala Blasters - Stephen Bywater, Rahul Bheke, Gurwinder Singh, Peter Ramage, Bruno Pelissari, Saumik Dey, Shankar Sampingraj, Mehtab Hossain, Josue Currais, Chris Dagnall, Sanchez Watt
Atletico de Kolkata absolutely dominated proceedings as they constantly kept Kerala Blasters in terms of possession and attacking gameplay, and could have been leading by much more than 1-0 at half time.
ATK coach Habas started, as expected, with ex Blasters man Iain Hume as the target man, assisted by Nadong Bhutia, given the first start for his new franchise, replacing under-suspension Baljit Singh Sahni. He also sought to fortify the back by fielding Juan Catalyud in goal instead of Amrinder. Captain Josemi, now free of injury, made his way into the starting line-up replacing Nato who is away on national duty.
Kerala coach Peter Taylor started with two foreigner forwards for the first time, starting both Chris Dagnall and Sanchez Watt. To balance things out he replaced Marcus Williams with Saumil Dey. He started Josue instead of Pulga in the midfield and benched Vineeth in favour of Shankar Sampingraj.
But the new-look Kerala defence was put to task early on as Javi Lara hit the bar with a long-ranger, and within a minute ATK had found their lead.
It was Gavilan who fed Hume who got past Bruno Perone inside the box and took a shot which keeper Bywater managed to get in the way of. But the deflected ball fell to an onrushing Arata who slammed it into the net. Immediately, Kerala were on the backfoot.
Further pressure mounted on Taylor as he had to substitute Gurwinder Singh who had picked up a knock with Ramandeep Singh. They got a chance to get back through a Rahul Bheke throw in but Dagnall mis-timed the shot and the opportunity went begging.
From here on it was mostly ATK dictating things. Iain Hume was ruling the final third, while Javi Lara and Iain Hume were keeping him well supplied. A high ball ahead saw him get his head to it before Peter Ramage and then take a shot at the goal... but off target.
Towards the end of the half Kerala had a chance to equalize. Mohanraj lost the ball to Bheke who crossed it to Dagnall but he could not get to it.
The half ended with the home side firmly in control, and Taylor will have to majorly tweak his strategies if they are to pose a challenge in the second period. For now, it looks like they have a mountain to climb.
