Bengaluru FC, through an own goal in the 81st minute by Kerala Blasters’ Nikola Krcmarevic, pipped the home side 2-1 on Monday in Kochi to extend their unbeaten streak to five games.
The victory against Blasters at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium propelled the Carles Cuadrat-managed side to the top of the table.
Both teams, at 1-1 after the first half, created chances in the second period to pull away. In the 81st minute, Miku, from the byline, passed the ball to Xico Hernandez, who blasted the ball towards the net. Kerala goalkeeper Naveen Kumar did his best to clear the ball away but it deflected off Krcmarevic and went back into the net.
Kerala had an opportunity to equalise in the 90th minute when they got a free-kick 25 yards away from the goal. But Matej Poplatni’s shot went away from the net.
Bengaluru, after this, tightened their defence to disallow Kerala from constructing dangerous attacks.
Earlier, Slavisla Stojanovic equalised for the Blasters in the first half through a penalty kick after Bengaluru FC skipper Sunil Chhetri had put his side ahead with a sublime finish.
The hosts had the opportunity to score in the third minute when Prasanth, from the left, sent in a low cross to CK Vineeth inside the box. With defenders beginning to close in quickly, Vineeth hurriedly took a left-footed shot that went over the crossbar.
Bengaluru began to control the proceedings after this attempt. In the 17th minute, their skipper put them ahead — and he made it look easy. Chhetri cleverly positioned himself behind the Kerala defence to receive the ball from Miku. Despite being chased by his counterpart, Sandesh Jhingan, Chhetri kept his cool to slot in the Blues’s first goal.
Conceding an early lead spurred Kerala to play better. In the next 10 minutes, they created two close chances through Vineeth, and Prashanth, whose low-drive was cleared on time by Gurpreet Singh.
Sahad Abdul Samad, in the 28th minute, broke free from the Bengaluru defence to enter the box. Nishu Kumar, in a desperate attempt to stop him, brought him down inside the box and the Blasters earned a penalty kick. Stojanovic blasted a shot that hit the crossbar before going past the goal-line.
With this win BFC reclaim lead of the table while Kerala tasted their first defeat of the season.
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