Kochi: Super substitute Milagres Gonsalves scored his first goal of the season to give Kerala Blasters FC a 1-0 win over FC Goa in their first home game of the Indian Super League in Kochi on Thursday.
It was a nice home coming for the Kerala Blasters FC after playing five away games on the trot. The packed crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium made all possible noises and gave a standing ovation to the players as they entered the field.
Milagres, who substituted CS Sabeeth in the 56th minute, combined well with another sub, Andrew Barisic, to give Kerala the lead in the 64th minute, sending the strong 50,000 crowd for a home run.
Orji received the ball after the defender clears it off the corner. He got past the defender and slide it wide for Andrew Barisic inside the box. Barisic then drilled it across the face of the goal for Milagres at the far post. The forward made no mistake to tap it in. The two subs combined well to make the difference.
The home team wasted a second chance to score in the added time when Milagres went past Rowilson Rodrigues on the right and flashed in a lovely ball which went inches wide from Sushant Mathew, who failed to get a touch. But Kerala managed to hold on to their lead till the final whistle much to the joy of the home crowd.
On the other hand, Goa lost their way in the second half. They attacked well and spent decent amount of time in their opponents half to create chances but the only thing missing was the finishing.
For Kerala, Stephen Pearson was a star in the midfield and impressed with his sudden bursts of speed.
Both the teams, who are languishing at the bottom of the points table, came up with interesting starting lineups. While Kerala's best striker Iain Hume was missing, Robert Pires made his comeback into the Goa side after serving a two-match suspension.
Earlier, in the first half, Kerala Blasters FC huffed and puffed, with Sabeeth and Penn giving the jitters to FC Goa defence, but eventually failed to net.
Hungry for a win, the teams started the battle on an attacking fashion with the ball travelling goal to goal. For Kerala Blasters FC, the first real chance came in the 3rd minute of the game through a brilliant ball by Stephen Pearson. The Scotish midfielder gave a long through ball to Ishfaq Ahmed on the left flank but the Indian was unable to find CS Sabeeth in the middle and sent his cross straight to Seda.
The match was more of a midfield battle until the very end of the first half. The added time of the first half saw Stephen Pearson giving a superb pass to Orji on the right who crossed it back to Pearson who instead of shooting, processed it to Sabeeth. But the Indian striker's shot went off the crossbar much to the agony of the crowd.
The visitors got their only chance in the 9th minute with Bruno Filipe free kick from the left. However, Gregory, who had a great chance to take the lead, headed the ball just over. But Gregory didn't stop there. He was wreaking havoc from his set pieces but failed to find the net.
Despite of enjoying the for more possession than Kerala throughout the match, Goa failed to capitalise.
With the win, Kerala climbed two spots to fifth in the league table while Zico's Goa remained at the bottom of the chart.
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