Kalyani (West Bengal): Gokulam Kerala rode on their Jamaican forward Jourdain Fletcher's twin strikes to beat Aizawl FC 2-1 in their I-League fixture here on Friday.
Ayush Dev Chhetri pulled one back with a stunning 90th minute strike but the defending champions snuffed out Aizawl's efforts to bag three points.
Having missed a handful of chances, the Malabarians finally struck when Fletcher pounced on a loose ball to finish off the rebound in the 63rd minute.
Five minutes later, Aizawl almost equalised from a miss by their goalkeeper Rakshit Dagar, who reacted just in time to manage to hold on to their lead.
In the 88th minute, Gokulam doubled the lead with Fletcher bringing up his brace.
After Ayush's strike two minutes later, Aizawl pressed on the attack only to be reduced to 10 players in added time when Robert Primus was sent off for denying Fletcher a goal-scoring opportunity.
The win maintained Gokulam's second place in the table as they have 18 points, one point clear of Sreenidi Deccan FC with a match in hand.
At Naihati, Sreenidi Deccan rallied from behind to down Kenkre FC by an identical 2-1 margin, their sixth from eight matches.
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