Kerala Blasters FC’s Nishu Kumar has put in a number of useful performances for his team in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) and continued that trend in the Hero Super Cup when he scored a beautiful goal in his team’s 3-1 win over Punjab FC on Saturday.

Nishu’s strike in the 53rd minute put the Blasters 2-0 up giving them the chance to close the win late on in stoppage time after Khungdongbam Kishananda Singh had pulled a goal back for the Punjab side.

The 25-year-old was pleased to make a telling contribution in giving his side a winning start in the Super Cup.

“It feels great to score like that. I’ve practised that move many times, and scored a few in a similar fashion too,” Nishu told the-aiff.com.

“I’ve always been trying to score like this. It was also a crucial point in the match, and the contest between the two teams was quite close, so that goal turned out to be very important for us at that point. I’m happy that I could be the one to provide our team with security,” he added.

The victory delighted the full-back as it came against the Hero I-League champions and put them in a good position in the group as other teams shared the spoils.

“Punjab are a good team with a lot of quality players in their ranks,” said Nishu. “They gave us a tough fight right till the very end, and I’m sure it was not easy for them to do so as they were playing against our home crowd,” Nishu said.

“I could see the sea of yellow everywhere in the stands. They were cheering for the whole 90 minutes, and I am really grateful,” he said. “No matter where we go, they are always there in numbers,” he added.

Kerala Blasters will next face off against the runners-up of the Hero I-League, Sreenidi Deccan FC at the EMS Corporation Stadium on April 12.