MATCH REPORT: It is the Blasters all the way as leaders Pune wither under constant attack
A GAME OF TOTAL DOMINANCE saw the ISL bottom-table Kerala Blasters emphatically overcome table-toppers Pune City by a 2-0 margin in a throroughly entertaining encounter at Kochi tonight.
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.
David Platt knew the only way to get even in this game that was fast slipping out of his hand was to somehow stop this constant inflow of attacks. He made his first strategic move at the onset of the second half by replacing Kalu Uche with Yendrick Ruiz.
The half began with Kerala looking threatening again, and Pune defenders throwing themselves all over the place to keep their team from conceding again. The fight was also getting increasingly physical as raw nerves came into play. Zokora picked up the game's first yellow card after a foul on Sanchez Watt.
That foul, however, wasn't something out of context; Watt was becoming an increasingly dangerous presence in the final third and a minute later he managed to double Kerala's lead.
A great ball from Chris Dagnall found Watt inside the penalty box, with only two defenders and the goalkeeper ahead of him. He worked the ball around in two touches, pulling the defensive wall to create an opening, then put a very well-placed grass-hugging left footer right through the defenders that managed to fool the keeper as well. Kerala were 2-0 up with 60 minutes on the clock.
The match somewhat slowed down after this. Kerala Blasters soon replaced Joao Coimbra and Mohammed Rafi with Ishfaq Ahmed and Antonio German. Ishfaq announced his arrival with a high boot collision with Bikash Jairu and a booking. Platt fielded Verhoek in the place of Tuncay Sanli hoping his pace would bring a break-through.
But none of that happened. Throughout the rest of the second half Kerala never looked tired. They were more content on holding the ball and taking it slightly slower at this point, but Pune could not capitalise on this to create a semblance of pressure on their defence.
Towards the end of the game, Watt and German made a few repeated onslaughts into Pune territory that left them all shaky again and completely unable to muster force to strike back. The match ended 2-0, with KBFC keeping the visitors on their toes till the very end.
The last boys had convincingly overcome the first boys of ISL, in a bid to breathe new life into their fledging campaign.
Scenes turned ugly after the final whistle as Kerala players crowded Didier Zokora taking him on for some bad conduct during the game. Things got almost out of hand before David Patt came in and broke them up. But that one hiccup aside, this was a thoroughly entertaining football game, with yet another franchise revitalizing their bid for a top four finish using a run of back-to-back home games.
Kerala Blasters, now at 8 points from 8 matches, will look to use their third straight home game, against Atletico de Kolkata on 10th of November, to make their return to form official. Terry Phelan's first game as KBFC coach has seen his team exceed expectations; now it's a question of keeping up the momentum.
Pune City, who still hang on to the top of the table with 13 points from 8 matches (Delhi are also on 13 points with a game in hand) will be worried at the sub-par performance they have put on in matches away from home (2 losses, 1 draw). To their relief, though, their next match will be back at Balewadi against FC Goa on Sunday; home sweet home wherefrom every single of their victories has come.
With this game, the business end of the ISL regular season has kicked off, and this game has once again made it clear that this year there are no passengers in the tournament. Right now, only 6 points separate the team at the top of the table from the one at the bottom. A couple more upsets like this and the points table can literally turn upside down in this tight, tight race to find a place in the semi-finals; and we have a month full of delicious football waiting for us.
