ISL: Amid protest, Kerala Blasters win

KOCHI: The usual fanfare surrounding a home fixture of the Kerala Blasters at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium was missing as they took on Mohammedan SC here on Sunday night. There was an unprecedented silence at the stadium when the Blasters players took the field for the match, as the home fans held the Blasters’ management responsible for their poor run in ISL this season.
However, by the end of 90 minutes, Blasters not only rediscovered their winning touch by blanking MSC 3-0 but also managed to turn that silence into cheer from a small turnout of 15,000 who came in for a holiday fixture.
With this win, Blasters are now in tenth spot in the points table with 14 points from 13 matches, while MSC remain at the bottom of the heap with five points from 12 matches.
Though the first half of the game was more about missed passes from both teams, the dynamics changed after MSC goalkeeper Bhaskar Roy’s goalkeeping blunder helped Blasters open their account in the 62nd minute,. MSC defender Joe Zoherliana conceded a corner, which was taken by Adrian Luna. Goalkeeper Bhaskar Roy tried to punch the ball away but his mistiming saw the ball falling into his own net, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead.
After conceding the lead, MSC were forced to attack, but they were guilty of opening up space in their defence, which Blasters striker Noah Sadaoui exploited. In the 80th minute, MSC failed to clear the line as Korou Singh, after receiving a pass from Luna, found Sadaoui with a long cross from the right. With a brilliant header, Sadaoui doubled the lead for Blasters.
In the 90th minute, Alexandre Coeff, who came on as a substitute replacing Sadaoui in the 86th minute, scored Blasters' third goal. Coeff received a pass from Luna and beat Bhaskar Roy to complete the tally for the hosts.
Fans protest with banners
On Sunday, Manjappada, the official fan group of Kerala Blasters, stayed away from their usual stadium activities, including chanting and singing the anthem. Around 15,000 spectators turned up for the match, of which a group came with a banner that read ‘Leaders or Liars’, venting their ire at the team management. There was another banner on the east stand which read, ‘Promises made, trust betrayed.’