KOLKATA, September 11, 2021: Indian Super League (ISL) side Kerala Blasters marked their Durand Cup debut with a slender 1-0 victory over the Indian Navy Football Team at the Vivekananda Yuba BharatiKrirangan (VYBK) on Saturday, September 11.
Uruguayan midfielder Adrian Luna
scored the match-winning spot-kick in the 72nd minute.
Scores remained level at half-time
and given how wasteful both teams were on either half, it seemed that the 130th
Durand Cup was heading for its first goalless draw.
The Navy team did an incredible job
in their opening game when they came back from a goal down to win against Delhi
FC and had they only tucked away the biggest chance they had today in the 74th
minute, the Sailormen could have ensured
passage to the quarter-finals already.
The opportunity was textbook and it
sprung out of a Navy counterattack. Ultimately, it was squandered, not once but
twice. First, Sreyas VG had to put his shot away with only Albino Gomes to
beat, but the Blasters custodian palmed it away.
Only for the ricochet to fall straight
at the feet of P M Britto, who had an open goal to aim for. The former East
Bengal winger, however, he astonishingly
shot wide.
The breakthrough goal had arrived two
minutes earlier, following an erratic
challenge inside the box by Navy’s Dalraj Singh, which was adjudged to be
yellow-card worthy and a penalty was awarded in favour of Kerala.
Adrian Luna stepped up for the
responsibility and made no mistake in making it 1-0 for his side.
“We are happy with the three points.
It was our idea of today’s game. It was really hard in these circumstances with
the rain and the condition of the pitch. We wanted to finish the game without injuries
but now we have to see how to recover some of our players”, said Kerala
Blasters Head Coach Ivan Vukomanovićfollowing the
game.
game.
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