Half Time Report: Goal fest as the Blasters and Pune go on attacking spree

Starting Line-Ups:

FC Pune City - Steve Simonsen, Gurjinder Kumar, Gouramangi Singh, Diego Colotto, Pritam Singh, Nicky Shorey, Didier Zokora, Bikash Jairu, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Kalu Uche, Tuncay Sanli

Kerala Blasters FC - Stephen Bywater, Marcus Williams, Sandesh Jhingan, Peter Ramage, Shankar Sampingraj, Rahul Bheke, Joao Coimbra, Josue Currais, Mehtab Hossain, Chris Dagnall, Mohammad Rafi

David Platt, with the bravado he is known for when it comes to team selection, made 5 changes to the Pune City starting XI, introducing the likes of Gurjinder Singh, Diego Colotto, Bikash Jairu, Pritam Kotal and Kalu Uche into the first formation. For Kerala, Peter Taylor made 3 changes. Shankar Sampingraj, Josue Currais and Chris Dagnall made the cut for the starting line-up.

The match was action-packed from the very first breath. With only 50 seconds on the clock, Mohammad Rafi scored the fastest goal in the history of Indian Super League to give the visitors a very early lead. It was a run by Dagnall up the right flank, who sent in a great cross for Rafi to head in. 

Pune City took a couple of minutes to recover from this early sucker punch. But soon they were back on their feet and going toe to toe with the Blasters. A cross from Kotal had Uche attempt a header but missed the target. Then a pass from Shorey saw Uche set up Zokora whose shot was on target but Kerala keeper Bywater made a great diving save.

Kalu Uche had been drafted into the starting line-up to be Pune's target man. And his presence in the final third was creating problems for Kerala defenders from the get go. And it all paid off in the 16th minute when Shorey sent a high cross into the box. Uche jumped up to meet the header, unattended by Peter Ramage who was standing right there but did not think to go for the aerial duel. Uche's header slammed the ball onto the ground and it went into the goal on the bounce, beating Bywater. Pune were level.

Kerala got a golden opportunity to take the lead again when Dagnall scooped it up to Coimbra who was in lots of space but headed it off target. 

And then Pune took the lead, once again through Uche. Once again it was Nicky Shorey who fooled Rahul Bheke and Mehtab Hossain to set it up for Uche. Once again Ramage was standing right next the Nigerian striker but proved to be of little help as Uche flicked it into the net to get his second goal of the match and put Pune 2-1 ahead. 

The onus was now on the visitors to chase it down. The battle continued in the midfield with the Blasters despearate for an early break so as to avoid letting the pressure settle on them. And their efforts paid off around the half hour mark as Josue Currais sent a high one into the box and it was Mohammad Rafi again, leaping past Gouramangi, meeting the ball with a header that dramatically hit the post then hopped into the net on the other end of the goal. Kerala were level, with Rafi getting the second goal of the match, and the fourth of the season, all of which have come from headers.