ISL: Kerala Blasters fail to unlock stingy Mumbai defence in 0-0 draw
by Jigar Mehta Nov 12, 2014 21:35 IST
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Kochi: It was another case of crucial points dropped at home as Kerala Blasters played out a frustrating 0-0 draw against Mumbai City FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
The hosts dominated the match but just like in previous games, couldn't get their finishing right. The Mumbai defense put up another impressive performance and Subrata Paul was again at his best - the team has now kept four cleansheets in a row.
Mumbai City made two changes to the starting eleven from the last match as midfielder Lalrindika Ralte replaced Nadong Bhutia while Tiago Ribeiro came in for the injured Andre Moritz.
At the other end, Kerala Blasters made a host of changes with Colin Falvey, Milagres Gonsalves, Raphael Romey, Godwin Franco and CS Sabeeth replacing Nirmal Chettri, Ishfaq Ahmad, Andrew Barisic, Iain Hume and Avinabo in the starting eleven. Iain Hume started on the bench but even his introduction for the final third couldn't unlock Mumbai's resilient back four.
It was the hosts that got off to a good start as they created a chance as early as the fourth minute when Penn Orji delivered a delicious cross to Cedric Hengbart which the defender headed over the crossbar. A minute later, Sabeeth released Milagres into the box from the left but Pavel Cmovs put in a brilliant last ditch tackle to deny the forward.
Kerala were quite a force when they poured forward - and they came close to scoring again in the seventh minute when Milagres headed a knock-down from Sabeeth from which Mumbai keeper Subrata Paul made a point blank save. Orji smashed the rebound but it took a deflection for a corner.
Mumbai started finding a foothold as the game settled down amidst unexpected rains. Kerala were playing a high backline with the full backs bustling forward into attack, but Mumbai couldn't exploit the spaces out wide with Sandesh Jinghan a constant thorn in their forays forward.
Unable to find build their way towards goal, Mumbai were reduced to threaten only from the distance but didn't trouble Kerala until the dying minutes when Tiago Ribeiro's volley came off the post.
The Kerala defense had done well to keep Anelka quiet for the first thirty minutes and the Frenchman's first real contribution came in the 34th minute when he ran past three defenders and unleashed a shot from outside the box but some good defending by the centre backs saw the shot deflected for a corner.
Both the teams started the second half in positive fashion, three minutes after the restart, Orji seared forward and threaded through the ball to Pearson who made a great run inside the box but again, it was that man Cmovs who made the interception to deflect it away.
Moments later, a delicious ball over the top sent Anelka clear but David James charged out of his box to clear it away.
Kerala came close to scoring ten minutes into the second half, after a string of headers inside the box, the ball fell to Orji who put too much power into the shot to blast it over.
Both the teams made their first change as Sushil Singh replaced Lalrindika Ralte for Mumbai while Penn Oriji was substituted for Iain Hume who got a splendid reception from the home crowd.
The Blasters were whipping in some delightful crosses but as seen earlier, Subrata Paul's anticipation was up to the mark and crucially, he was able to thwart those attacks. A moment of madness could have cost Kerala when Milagres deflected an inviting cross from Sabeeth inside the box with his hand but it went unnoticed with the referee.
The game came to life when Mumbai came the closest to scoring in the 76th minute when Tiago's volley from a poor clearance hit the post and then Friedrich's header off a corner went straight to James.
Kerala Blasters then upped the ante in search of an equaliser and in the final seconds of the game, Raphael Romey's weak header was saved by Subrata.
Kerala Blasters clearly looked disappointed with the result as they trudged off the field in disappointment. Earlier, just before the kick-off, Kerala Blasters co-owner and Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar felicitated the CISF personell.
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