Half Time Report: Kerala lose lead, player and last remaining bits of top-4 hope
Starting Line-Ups:
Kerala Blasters FC - Stephen Bywater, Peter Ramage, Sandesh Jhingan, Deepak Mondal, Saumik Dey, Peter Carvalho, Josue Currais, Victor Pulga, Chris Dagnall, Antonio German, Mohammed Rafi
FC Goa - Laxmikant Kattmimani, Lucio, C.S. Sabeeth, Pronay Halder, Gregory Arnolin, Reinaldo, Jofre, Johatan Lucca, Leo Moura, Mandar Rao Desai, Debabrata Roy
THINGS FELL APART for Kerala Blasters as the bottom-table team came into this must-win home encounter, took the lead, played well, then conceded twice to FC Goa and lost the lead, and ended the half with losing a player after Josue Currais was shown a red card for punching Jofre.
Kerala Blasters coach Terry Phelan chose to switch back to Stephen Bywater in goal in the last home game of the ISL regular season and made two other changes -- giving Peter Carvalho and Mohammed Rafi a start. Zico, too, made three changes in the FC Goa ranks: Pronay Halder, Debabrata Roy and Jofre made it back into the starting line-up.
The match began in an explosive fashion as the home team banged in a goal in the very second minute. Dagnall fed Pulga who passed to German who sent it back for Pulga, and the finishing volley went like a bullet past the Goa keeper. 1-0.
An immediate counter from the Gaurs almost saw them get even, but Bywater managed to collect Mandar's cross before it could reach Reinaldo inside the box.
But the visitors didn't have to wait long for their equalizer. Reinaldo ran up the right flank and sent a cross in for an unmarked Jofre inside the box whose foot swung like a hammer. There was little to be done. It was 1-1.
And then things got ugly when Mohammed Rafi invaded the Goa box. Gregory Arnolin went in and deliberately stomped on Rafi but the referee could not spot it. It should have been a penalty and a card; instead, Arnolin got away unpunished.
Over the next few minutes Kerala controlled the flow of the game and frustrated the visitors by managing to keep most of the possessions. But it was Goa who struck again, thanks to Kerala defenders being unprepared for sudden moves like that.
Moura and Mandar combined to push ahead from the midfield and the former sent a swift through ball to Reinaldo whose finish was inch-perfect. Goa had managed to come back from a deficit and manage to earn a lead, not for the first time this season.
Kerala got a couple chances to come back. A through ball from Josue saw Dagnall in possession. He found his way into the box, but shot the ball wide. Then a Pulga cross almost got Dagnall a one-on-one with Laxmikant, but Arnolin managed to intervene and successfully clear it.
Knowing things needed a lift, coach Phelan decided to make an early substitute; replacing Saumik Dey with Ishfaq Ahmed. But before something could be done, things took a turn for extreme worse after Jofre's onslaught on Kerala half got called off for offside. Jofre and Josue Currais had a verbal exchange, following which the latter straight up punched the former. A massive scuffle broke out as several players from both teams got injured, pushing and shoving each other.
After the referee and some of the cool-headed players had managed to calm things down, Josue was shown a straight red card, which summed up the first half perfectly for Kerala Blasters. They got the lead, played well, then lost the lead and then lost a player and now they are looking at a second half where they are likely to lose the game and any remaining splinters of hope to make it to the semi-finals.
