Football
ISL 2021-22: 10 man Kerala Blasters bagged three crucial points against North East United
Alvaro Vazquez's stunner helped Kerala to move to the second spot on the table
Ten-man Kerala Blasters moved to second spot in the points table with a spirited performance to down wooden spooners NorthEast United FC 2-1 in the Hero Indian Super League at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco on Friday.
Second-half goals from Jorge Pereyra Díaz (62nd) and a stunner from Alvaro Vazquez (82nd) saw Kerala get back to winning ways as NorthEast United's misery deepened further. Mohamed Irshad scored a goal deep into injury time but that didn't matter in the end as Khalid Jamil's side remained on 10 points from 16 games. Kerala now have 23 points from 13 outings.
The first chance of the game fell to NorthEast United as Suhair Vadakkepeedika had a golden opportunity to take the lead early, but the striker failed to connect after doing all the hard work to evade his marker from a Joe Zoherliana cross.
Marcelinho was at it with some teasing crosses for Suhair and also delivered a crisp corner for Pragyan Gogoi to smash the ball over the bar. Hernan Santana and Marcelinho linked up well too but lacked finishing with the former blasting over an effort after Santana burst through the right to square the ball for him.
Kerala got their first real chance three minutes from the break, Adrian Luna putting in a perfect ball for Jeakson Singh who headed over.
In the second half, Kerala started on the front foot as Alvaro Vazquez spotted the keeper out of his line and tried his luck from 40 yards out but missed the target. Vazquez was in the clear soon after, but he shot straight at the keeper as Kerala attacked with venom to soon get their reward.
Diaz was left unmarked and the Argentine made no mistake when Harmanjot Khabra headed the ball in his path, nodding in past Subhashish Roy Choudhary. Kerala suffered a setback when Ayush Adhikari was sent off after seeing a second yellow card in the 70th minute.
NorthEast United replaced Marco Sahanek with Deshorn Brown who made a comeback into the team, but Kerala went 2-0 up to add to Highlanders' plight. Vazquez scored a sensational goal, getting the ball close to the half-line and spotting Roy Choudhury off his line, to send a curling effort that nestled into the net.
Irshad pulled one back in stoppage time from a Santana ball, shooting with power from just outside the box but his brilliant effort went in vain as NorthEast United succumbed to their second straight defeat.
Live Updates
- 4 Feb 2022 3:07 PM GMT
48' Santana goes direct from the freekick but misses the target my a heavy margin.
KBFC 0-0 NEUFC
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- 4 Feb 2022 3:06 PM GMT
YELLOW CARD
47' Ayush goes into the books after a bad foul on Marcelinho.
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- 4 Feb 2022 3:04 PM GMT
SECOND HALF
45' Game resumes after the lemon break.
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- 4 Feb 2022 2:50 PM GMT
HALFTIME
45 + 4' Game for the first half ends.
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- 4 Feb 2022 2:46 PM GMT
INJURY TIME
45' 4 minutes added after the end of regulated time.
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- 4 Feb 2022 2:44 PM GMT
42' Good delivery from the corner, Jeakson makes a good run followed by an excellent header but unluckily the ball missed the target by an inch.
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- 4 Feb 2022 2:42 PM GMT
40' Excellent lofted pass from Suhair but Sahanek couldn't get a touch on the ball inside the box.
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- 4 Feb 2022 2:38 PM GMT
36' Excellent play from Santana as he dribbles past two players and goes for an inswing. However, his strike misses the target by a couple of inches.
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- 4 Feb 2022 2:35 PM GMT
OFFSIDE
34' Good move from KBFC but Vazquez gets caught for offside.
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