Kerala Blasters and FC Goa played out one of the finest games of the Indian Super League so far with the match decided by Kervens Belfort's winner in the 85th to give the Blasters a 2-1 win at at the Fatorda Stadium. The win propelled Steve Coppell's side to the fifth spot.
The decisive goal of the game came at a time when the home side's defending was steadily declining. It was Goa who went ahead in the game through Julio Cesar's header in the first half. Blasters came back into the contest through Mohammed Rafi's goal early second-half goal.
Before the contest began, it was a battle between the two bottom placed teams in the league. Neither side sat back and there were chances aplenty for both sides very early in the game. The absence of the influential Jofre certainly affected Goa's creativity, especially in the second half but Cesar's energy and imagination was yet again a revelation.
Cesar latched on to a left-wing cross that looked harmless at first, but the timing of the Brazilian's header was first-rate as he put his side in the lead. The Blasters' best chance in the first half was through defender Sandesh Jhingan's header, which was tipped away by Subhasish Roy Choudhary, who made a number of quality saves in the game.
The Blasters baclkine had to be watchful to see off Cesar, who was terrorising his opponents with the ball at his feet, and would pop up across the frontline to confuse defenders.
Rafi scored barely a minute after the interval, being at the end of a Mohammad Rafique cut-back and tapping it home. With tackles flying in from both sides, the respective medical teams were overworked as the feisty nature of the contest refused to wear down.
The slackness of Goa's defence in the final stages was exposed when Michael Chopra, who was relatively quiet during the game, was through on goal with ease. Choudhary saved the day with an excellent finger-tip save from the Englishman's shot.
Minutes later, Belfort ran unchallenged for 15 meters and unleashed a powerful left foot shot, which beat Choudhary at the near post. Goa continue to languish at the bottom of the table, and today was further evidence of their woes this season.
Brief scores:
FC Goa 1 (Julio Cesar) lose to Kerala Blasters 2 (Mohammed Rafi, Kervens Belfort)
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