ISL 2015: Draw puts Mumbai and Kerala on the brink of exit
Antonio German scored a late equalizer as the crucial clash between bottom-rankers Mumbai City FC and Kerala Blasters ended in a 1-1 draw. The result did not help either of the teams, and now both teams' hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage hangs by a thread.
Mumbai forward Sony Norde and Kerala midfielder Josu tried their luck from a couple of good long range shots to get the match underway.
The Blue Devils dominated the early proceedings, and in the 23rd minute, Sunil Chhetri set up Subash Singh for a shot. But the Indian striker made the mistake of going for the near post, instead of the far post, and the goalkeeper made an easy save.
Mumbai did not have to wait for long though, as they took the lead in the 25th minute and it arrived from a corner. Sony Norde's delivery from the corner was directed straight at the goal, and Kerala Blasters goalkeeper Sandip Nandy could only manage to punch it straight towards Juan Aguilera, whose wonderful volley found the back of the net.
rana
Chris Dagnall, Kerala's striker, had a golden opportunity to bring the match back to parity in the 30th minute, when he went through on goal. The Englishman beat a defender, but was pushed wide by goalkeeper Subrata Paul. Dagnall finally managed to take the ball past him as well, but his shot, from a tight angle, was saved off the line by Pavel Cmovs.
Josu attempted another long range shot in the 44th minute, but this time it was on target and Subrata was forced to make a save and tip the ball over the bar.
After Mumbai's early domination, and goal, Kerala were slowly finding their feet when both the teams went into the tunnels for the half-time break, with the scoreboard reading 1-0.
Antonio German would go on to miss a host of chances in the second half for Kerala and his first miss arrived in the 51st minute, when his glancing header, from Mehtab Hossain's cross, went wide of the far post.
Mumbai, on the other hand, were looking dangerous from counter attacks and Subash Singh missed another chance to hit the target, after being put through on goal by Sunil Chhetri in the 63rd minute.
After toiling hard in the second half, and missing a host of chances, Kerala Blasters finally grabbed the equalizer in the 89th minute. Deepak Mondal's cross from the right was headed away by Subash Singh in the Mumbai box, but it fell kindly for German, whose left footed volley went in off the far post.
The match ended 1-1 and both the teams will be disappointed at having failed to score more goals, considering the number of chances they created. Mumbai are now four points behind fourth placed NorthEast United and in their last two league matches, they will have to travel to face Atletico de Kolkata and Chennaiyin FC. It will take a miracle for Nicolas Anelka's men to qualify for the knock-out stage from this situation.
Kerala have very little chance of making it through as well, and will have to depend on a number of results going their way, before they can even worry about defeating FC Goa and Delhi Dynamos in their last two games.
0
0
0
0
0
0
Comments
Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions
0 Comments