Bengaluru, November 23
Talismanic captain Sunil Chhetri scored the winning goal as Bengaluru FC beat Kerala Blasters 1-0 in an action-packed Indian Super League match at the Sree Kanteerava stadium here today.
Though Kerala Blasters battled valiantly, Chhetri scored the winner with a brilliant header in the 55th minute to preserve his side's unbeaten record in the ISL.
The win saw the Blues climb up to second on the table with nine points from five games while Kerala Blasters, winless after the opening match, are at seventh. The away side showed plenty of intent right from the start, pressing Bengaluru hard and forcing mistakes from the reigning champions.
The first chance did fall for Kerala Blasters when Sergio Cidoncha picked out Rahul KP at the far post with a lovely cross. However, the youngster mistimed his header and the chance went abegging.
An energetic Kerala Blasters continued to dictate terms and should have taken the lead six minutes later. Bartholomew Ogbeche fed Raphael Messi Bouli into the box. He tried to return the favour, but a sliding Ogbeche just could not get there.
Bengaluru, after a slow start, started to get more on the ball and create chances. They thought they had the lead in the 28th minute when Harmanjot Khabra played Udanta Singh free down the right wing. The winger's cross from the byline was headed in by Raphael Augusto, but the linesman deemed the ball to have gone over the line before Udanta got the cross in.
An unfazed Kerala continued to ask questions of the Bengaluru defence. But there were nervous moments for the away side in defence too. Albert Serran headed over from point-blank range after Augusto pulled back a ball from the byline in the 36th minute. — PTI
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/35Ee60r
via Today’s News Headlines
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