The Blasters' commitment to taking three points from this fixture was evident as centre-back Cedric Hengbart shrugged off the injury he suffered in the previous game. He would go on to put a rock solid shift at the heart of defence.
In Diego Forlan's prolonged absence from the side, Mumbai once again did not opt to play a striker but in this game, they had problems in other areas of the pitch. The discipline they displayed in their first three games went out of the window, and it was replaced with dangerous tackles along with a lackadaisical effort to win the ball.
Mumbai could have been down to nine men on another day. Aiborlang Khongjee flung onto Mehtab Hossain with both feet and and only got a yellow. Mumbai left-back, Facundo Cardozo took out Mohammed Rafique from behind with a clumsy challenge. Yet again, the referee took a lenient stance, handing only a yellow to the offender.
It looked like the Blasters would have nothing to show for all their possession. Mohammed Rafi had two good chances, both with his head. His first chance came in the first minute of the game through Kervens Belfort's excellent cross from the left. Just before the half-time whistle, Rafi slammed a header goalwards from a corner, and ball missed the crossbar only by a couple of inches.
Chopra, though, was making things tick at the edge of the Mumbai box. The Englishman's vision and touch was spot on, and at the half-time break, there was optimism in the home side's ranks, having hogged 61 percent possession.
Close to the hour mark, Belfort went for a shot but miscued it and it ended up being a neat pass to Chopra instead, who was found in space, and slotted the ball home to send the 60,000-strong crowd into all kinds of ecstasy.Alexandre Guimares made a double substitution and the change worked immediately. Sony Norde, in the blink of an eye, outran Sandesh Jhingan and shot the ball past the keeper. Blasters skipper Aaron Hughes appeared out of nowhere to clear the ball off the line. It only summed up the Blasters' desire and commitment, despite being battered by Mumbai's tackles right through the game.
Brief scores:
Kerala Blasters 1 (Michael Chopra) beat Mumbai City 0
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