Goa: A 10-man Kerala Blasters scripted a 3-2 victory against a spirited Jamshedpur FC in the ongoing Indian Super League at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco on Sunday. Jordan Murry scored a brace and Costa Nhamoinesu netted one for Kerala while Nerijus Valskis was on target for Jamshedpur.
The match started on a good note for Kerala as they have been the more dominating side from the first minute. Two of their front men Gary Hooper and Murry were linking beautifully between each other. Sadly, both the players missed two easy chances.
In the 22nd minute, Kerala’s Zimbabwean defender Costa opened the scoring with a header. Jamshedpur hit back in the 36th minute from a Valskis free-kick outside the box. A perfect curl to equalise from the Lithuanian.
In the second half, the game started to get slow as teams were not finding enough space to attack. Meanwhile, Kerala’s Lalruatthara was given the marching order by the referee in the 66th minute.
There is a saying in football that a 10-men side is far more dangerous against an 11-men side and it just got proved on Sunday’s match after Murry scored in the 79th minute for Kerala to take a 2-1 lead. Murry got his second three minutes later after an awful mistake by Jamshedpur goalkeeper TP Rehenesh.
Valskis hit back one in the 84th minute and the last six minutes were a roller-coaster ride to say at least. Yet Kerala managed to hold on to their 3-2 lead which brought a sigh of relief for their coach Kibu Vicuna, who was anxious throughout the match in the dugout.
