With their head coach Mikael Stahre and his assistants sacked, the last few days had been tough ones for Kerala Blasters. But the Kochi side recovered well and found its winning touch, thrashing the bottom-placed Mohammedan Sporting Club 3-0 in the ISL at the Nehru Stadium here on Sunday.
The victory, which came after three straight losses, helped the Blasters climb a rung and move to the 10th spot in the 13-team league table while Mohammedan remained in the last place.
The Blasters began well, working their way up through the left flank and Noah Sadaoui and Adrian Luna sent plenty of crosses into the box but Kwame Peprah could not utilize the chances well. Mohammedan also put up a strong defense and held its fort well for nearly an hour, and frequently relied on counter attacks to advance. But things turned dramatically after that.
The Blasters’ lead came through Mohammedan goalkeeper Bhaskar Roy’s blunder in the 62nd minute. Roy tried to punch away Luna’s corner kick but, to his horror, found himself only pushing the ball into his own goal.
The Blasters grew in confidence after that. Noah Sadaoui increased the lead with a nice header in the 80th minute, following a cross from Korou Singh, and substitute Alexander Coeff made it 3–0 in the dying minutes of the match as the fans roared in joy.
The result: Kerala Blasters 3 (Bhaskar Roy 62-og; Sadaoui 80, Alexander Coeff 90) bt Mohammedan Sporting Club 0.
Published – December 22, 2024 09:59 pm IST