Kochi: Kerala Blasters FC and NorthEast United FC played out an entertaining 1-1 draw in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday.
Silencing the yellow sea, the visitors found an early lead when Nestor Albiach rattled the net in the 12th minute. NorthEast initiated the play from the left wing with a throw-in. Jithin M S, who was in the thick of action minutes earlier, collected the ball from outside the 18-yard box in the centre and skillfully delivered it to Albiach ideally positioned inside the box. The Spaniard executed a turn and drilled the ball into the far left corner of the goal past KBFC keeper Sachin Suresh.
Blasters came close to levelling the game in the dying minutes of the first half when Asheer Akthar brought down Kwame Peprah inches away from the NorthEast penalty box. However, the levelling goal materialised only in the second half.
In the 49th minute, Adrian Luna delivered the goal-scoring ball to Farooq through a free kick in the attacking half. Farooq soared high to head the ball in without any trouble. Luna had a dream outing as he was there in almost all Blasters moves.
Even though Blasters began the game with strong attacks, the first shot on target came from NorthEast United's Jithin. He took a long-range shot towards the Blasters' goal, which sailed over the bar. Blasters responded to the goal with two quick attacks, both were deflected off posts.
Though Blasters' defence, without the key players like Miloc Drincic (red) and Aibanbha Dohling (injured), showed chinks all through the game as the visitors started testing it with frequent raids, they held their fort. Despite counters by the Highlanders, Blasters dominated the game keeping the possession with neat passes and creating beautiful moves in the middle and the attacking half.
With this draw, Blasters retained the fourth position in the table with seven points from four games.
FC Goa in second place
FC Goa moved past Mumbai City FC to the second spot, courtesy of their 2-1 win over East Bengal in an earlier kick-off in Bhubaneswar.
NorthEast United are in fifth spot, with five points from two draws, a loss and a win.
NorthEast United will return home to host Jamshedpur FC on Thursday (October 26) while Blasters will meet Odisha FC in Kochi next Friday.
