Half Time Report: Complete domination by the Blasters finally results in a 1 goal lead over Pune
Starting Line-Ups:
Kerala Blasters FC - Stephen Bywater, Saumik Dey, Peter Ramage, Sandesh Jhingan, Rahul Bheke, Mehtab Hossain, Joao Coimbra, Josue Currais, Sanchez Watt, Mohammed Rafi, Chris Dagnall
FC Pune City- Steve Simonsen, Roger Johnson, Pritam Kotal, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Nicky Shorey, Didier Zokora, Jackichand Singh, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Tuncay Sanli, Lenny Rodrigues, Kalu Uche
AFTER 45 MINUTES OF trying and failing, Kerala Blasters finally took the lead from a Chris Dagnall stunner as they utterly dominated Pune City with their agile, attacking play in the first half here at Kochi.
Kerala head coach Terry Phelan, taking charge for his first game, mostly stuck to the side that held Chennaiyin FC to a draw, making jut one change in the starting line up: Josue Currais coming in to replace Bruno Perone. David Platt, too, appeared more or less happy with the side that drew with Goa away from home and made only two changes; Indian internationals Pritam Kotal and Jackichand Singh coming into the starting line-up replacing Bikash Jairu and Gouramangi Singh.
Rafi, who scored a brace against Pune City at Balewadi, had a disorienting start to the game when a Didier Zokora shot caught him unprepared, by the face. The forward was able to continue, though, and he played a prominent role in a sustained period of domination that the bottom-table side maintained on the table toppers for almost the entire first half.
The Kerala Blasters attackers worked every move possible, repeatedly breaking through the Pune defence and creating chances but a couple of great clearances, a stellar shift from keeper Steve Simonsen and utterly frustrating poor finishes kept them from scoring, until the very end of the period.
Early on Jhingan missed a close ranger that Mehtab and Coimbra had worked hard to set up for him. Next, Dagnall laboriously picked his way through a jungle of orange shirts and sent a great pass to Sanchez Watt but the latter failed to get a touch on it.
Later on a well-timed lob from Josue cleared the Pune defence and reached Chris Dagnall whose shot was great but Simonsen managed to save it.
Scenes like this kept repeating throughout as the clock ticked on towards half-time. On the 45th minute, Dagnall sent a good ball to Josue whose pass reached Mohammed Rafr via Mehtab. He took the shot at the goal but a defender slid in to make the block. It became a scuffle, two yards away from the goal, as the defender kept making block after block while Rafi kept shooting from every rebound. Finally the ball got cleared. The Kerala players were holding their head; it seemed that after all their domination (20 shots at the goal compared to Pune City's 1 in the first half) they were about to enter half-time without a lead.
But then it happened, in time added on. Rahul Bheke's cross was headed by Johnson towards Dagnall. The Kerala no. 9 took the shot on the first touch, with his left foot, through a narrow opening to the goal. It looked like he packed all the frustration of the half into the shot as the ball whipped through the thick Kochi air and collided with the net.
Finally, Kerala Blasters had the lead they had worked their arses off to achieve. The last boys went into half-time with a 1-0 lead over the first boys.
There's no doubt Pune will make an attacking start to the second half, trying to get even. For them the trick lies in stopping this one-way traffic of attacks. Because one goal isn't much of a cushion. As for Kerala, carrying on where they left off and keeping up the pressure will be the key. The teams are now looking at a pulsating second half where the strategic plays and mind games from both the coaches are set to spice things up.
