Match Report: Late goals in each half help FC Goa blow away the Blasters

LATE GOALS IN EACH HALF saw FC Goa recover from a deficit and claim a significant 2-1 victory over Kerala Blasters at Fatorda tonight. The win landed Zico's boys at the summit of the ISL points table as they strengthened their bid for a semi-final berth. 

With Sabeeth and Jofre out with injuries, Zico introduced Pronay Halder and Darryl Duffy into the starting line-up. Nicolau Colaco and Narayan Das also made it to the first eleven. Peter Taylor, meanwhile, made no less than five changes to the squad. Marquee Carlos Marchena was benched, so were Dagnall, Manandeep, Vineeth and Pulga. Sanchez Watt and Mohammad Rafi started up front, with Mehtab, Coimbra and Bruno Perone backing them up. 

The half began with Kerala Blasters showing some early initiative. An early move from Coimbra saw him pass to Rafi who had a good opportunity to set Mohammad Rafi up but overhit the cross. 

Coimbra then fouled Jonatan who went down in high drama, but failed to get the referee to produce a card. The resulting free kick, taken by Moura, was poor. 

A minute later Moura tried to feed Bikramjit insidethe Kerala box but the ball went out. 

Sanchez Watt and Rahul Bheke were continuous with their pressure on the FC Goa goal but some of the defenders, especially Gregory, were putting up a good effort. But all that came to naught in the 23rd minute when Rahul Bheke's cross found Mohammad Rafi with pin-point accuracy who beat Colaco to the ball and sent a deadly header past Laxmikant to get the visitors a crucial lead.

Down by a goal to Kerala, a team with a heavy defence, is never an easy prospect and Goa continued to struggle to recover from the situation. Kerala forwards, meanwhile, kept up the pressure. Watt's long ball to Marcus Williams saw the latter within scoring range but Colaco managed to avert the danger. 

Things got dangerous for Goa when Luciano fouled Mohammad Rafi right outside the penalty box, and earned a yellow card. The free kick, taken by Cavin Lobo, put keeper Laxmikant to task but the custodian managed to get a touch on the ball, which went over the bar.

But at the death of the first half, Goa found their equalizer. It was a corner kick, which came right into the Kerala box, and keeper Stephen Bywater managed to puch it away. Unfortunately, the ball went straight to Leo Moura, who was completely unmarked. He made no mistake in shooting it right in. The hosts were level.

Getting the equalizer was crucial for FC Goa as they could start the second half playing their normal game instead of having to chase the game against a heavily fortified side like Kerala Blasters. The momentary defensive lapse that got them the equalizer; there was no guarantee such a chance would arise again.

Coming off a few bad results, Kerala Blasters were eager for full points tonight as they started the second half looking resourceful in the midfield. Mehtab and Bheke combined to earn a throw-in. Bheke delivered one of his long throws but it was cleared. A good ball from Coimbra to Rafi saw the striker robbed by Gregory. Then Luciano cleared a cross from Rahul Bheke.

Looking to shake things up, Peter Taylor introduced Shankar Sampingraj, replacing Cavin Lobo. Minutes later Zico answered with a double substitution; subbing Bikramjit Singh with Romeo Fernandes, then taking out Darryl Duffy to put in Mandar Rao Desai; the sixth Indian on the pitch. Soon Kerala took their second sub too; bringing in Josue Currais for Joao Coimbra.

Following this, things picked up a little pace. Rahul Bheke sent in another deadly long throw. Sandesh jhingan got a touch on it, sending it to Marcus Williams who took the shot but found it blocked. The ball came back to Perone, whose shot was in turn cleared for a corner.

Newly introduced substitute Josue Currais also tried to get his own slice of action with a shot at goal from a bit of a distance but missed the target completely.

Soon after, Mohammad Rafi picked up an injury and had to be replaced by C.K. Vineeth, accounting for the third Kerala Blasters substitution. Then Goa made their third change as well, replacing Colaco with Raju Gaikwad.

With the clock ticking past the 82nd minute, the home side got a corner. Mandar Rao Desai stepped up to take it. He delivered it with his left foot right into the thick of the penalty box. Gregory Arnolin beat everyone to the ball, making the connection and sending it buzzing past Bywater. Goa were 2-1 up with less than ten minutes to go.

Kerala tried hard to make something happen in the short time available to them. But the pressure got to them. When a Luciano handball earned them a free-kick the players heatedly argued amongst themselves before letting Josue take it. But the delivery was poor; it hit the wall.

C.K. Vineeth got close as well. Watt set him up, and he had a crack at the goal. But Laxmikant saved the ball with eye-catching dexterity.

Then with seconds to spare, Sandesh Jhingan got a chance, but his header missed the target by whiskers.

And then it was all over. FC Goa had managed to come back from a deficit and claim a victory over Kerala Blasters. 

The win is significant for Goa, who have proved that the 0-4 loss to Chennaiyin has not deterred them, as they have followed it up with two straight wins that have gotten them to the top of the table with 10 points. Zico will be especially happy with the way the team regrouped and played as a unit after going down 1-0. He will still want to address the first half an hour of the game, though, because the slow start from the home side let Kerala get on the driving seat of the game; something that could have cost them badly.

Kerala Blasters have now gone through three straight losses and Peter Taylor will not be happy at all. With 4 points from 5 matches they are at number 6, heavily threatened by Mumbai City and NorthEast United who have just won their first games and seem to be improving. Today's match exposed a particular vulnerability to set-pieces in the Kerala team; both their goals came from corner kicks, and while the second goal was good work from Gregory but the first one could have been avoided with better man-marking. The coach will have to address these anomalies in their otherwise solid defence before they face Pune City away on Tuesday. The only positivbe takeaway for Kerala from this game would be the way the midfielders and forwards managed to dominate through most of the first half. Much of this is thanks to Chris Dagnall being finally left on the bench, and good understanding between Mehtab, Coimbra and Mohammad Rafi.

For Goa, this is a night of vindication. Their status as the team at the top is being threatened by Pune City who are on 9 points with a game in hand, and Goa's next mission is to defend their pole position in encounters against Mumbai City and Pune City. Success in those games will send them very close to a semi-final berth. So Zico will be hoping to keep up the spirit and the momentum ahead of a crucial couple of weeks in the ISL race.