ISL: Punjab FC stun Kerala Blasters FC with an injury-time winner

Punjab FC stunned Kerala Blasters in their opening fixture of the Indian Super League (ISL) season 2024-25, after an injury-time winner from the Croatian midfielder Filip Mrzljak in Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium, Kochi on Sunday.

Filip, who is one of the new signings of Punjab FC this season, left his mark on his debut match in the league by scoring a very important winner in an away fixture.

He directed the ball into the back of the net at the near side of the goalkeeper, Sachin Suresh, from a narrow angle on what was a precise through ball from the forward Luka Majcen in the penalty box.

The match however started on a sour note in the first half as none of the two teams were able to create any dangerous attacks and was also a bit sloppy in passing as well.

In the first 15 minutes of the match, it was only Kerala Blasters who were trying to attack but then slowly Punjab also settled in and created a few good chances for themselves. They tried plenty of out-of-the-box shots but that was well defended by the Blaster's defence.

Eventually, the first half ended goalless as no team found out any major goal-scoring opportunity. There were only five goal attempts in the first half, four for Punjab FC and just one for the Kerala Blasters.

The game looked set to round off as a goalless draw, but it completely turned its shape in the final 10 minutes when the substitute Leon Augustine won a penalty for the side in the 86th minute.

He made a very good run into the penalty box and was set to take a shot but then Blatsrs's defender Muhammed Saheef wrongly tackled him, resulting in a spot kick for Punjab FC.

Punjab's star striker Luka Majcen didn't make any mistakes and converted the penalty into the bottom left corner to break the deadlock.

The dull-looking Kerala Blasters reignited after this goal and started to create attacks and eventually found an equalizer in injury time when Pritam Kotal whipped in a precise cross from the right wing which turned into the goal from Jesus Jimenez by a header.

In the end, this wasn't proved to be enough for the home team as Punjab FC found the winner in the fifth minute of the injury time.