Kerala Blasters FC and Jamshedpur FC played out an intriguing 1-1 draw at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Tuesday. Both teams created plenty of chances throughout the match but had to settle for a goal and a point each after ninety minutes.

The result meant that there was no movement in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2018-19 standings on the night. Jamshedpur stayed in the fifth spot with 16 points from 11 matches, while Kerala remained seventh with nine points from 10 outings.

  • Carlos Calvo converted a penalty kick to put Jamshedpur in the lead on the 66th minute.
  • Seiminlen Doungel brought Kerala back on level footing on the 77th minute.
  • Dheeraj Singh made some crucial saves in the final 10 minutes to preserve the scoreline.

The match got off to an edgy start, with both teams choosing to start cautiously with the rain pouring down in Kochi. The first chance of the encounter fell the home team's way on the 7-minute mark when Slavisa Stojanovic was set free down the right. His shot from a tight angle went wide, letting Jamshedpur off the hook.

The visitors were dealt an early blow after Michael Soosairaj pulled a hamstring and had to be taken off. Jerry Mawhmingthanga was brought in to replace him.

Kerala seized the opportunity to put themselves in the driver's seat and almost capitalised on the 21st minute. Keziron Kizito's powerful run was somehow stopped by a backtracking Mario Arques. His weak clearance, however, found its way to Sahal Abdul Samad inside the Jamshedpur box. The youngster's shot beat Jamshedpur goalkeeper Subrata Paul only to hit the crossbar.

Jerry looked lively ever since his introduction and almost set up Tim Cahill with a beautiful cross. But Anas Edathodika was at hand to make life difficult for the Aussie and made sure he couldn’t get a proper shot on target.

Minutes later, Jerry and Cahill combined yet again. This time, it was the Australian who found Jerry's diagonal run with a lovely through ball, but the substitute’s final effort went agonizingly wide.

Kerala almost hit back instantly on the other end through a quick counter attack. It took a goal-line clearance from Memo to keep out Seiminlen Doungel's shot on target.

The home side suffered an injury blow of their own just before half-time. Keziron, who was having a great match in midfield, had to be stretchered off after sustaining a hamstring issue of his own. The teams saw out the next five minutes and headed into the break with the score 0-0.

David James brought CK Vineeth on early in the second-half and the veteran striker almost made an instant impact. He did well to ghost in at the far post to try and meet Sandesh Jhingan's looping cross. It took a timely intervention from Robin Gurung to put him off.

The breakthrough finally came on the 66th minute. Cahill made an intelligent run to beat Kerala's offside trap and forced Dheeraj Singh to come off his line to clear the ball. The young keeper ended up fouling the veteran striker near the edge of the 18-yard box. After a little deliberation with his assistant, the referee deemed that the contact was inside the penalty area and pointed to the spot.

Carlos Calvo promptly dispatched the penalty to put the visitors in the lead. 1-0 to Jamshedpur.

On the 75th minute, Doungel saw his shot cleared off the line once again after a goalmouth scramble created a shooting opportunity for him.

However, minutes later, the Kerala no. 9 wasn’t to be denied a third time in the same night. Doungel muscled past his marker to stab home a Stojanovic knock on and brought his team back into the match. It was his first goal of the season.

The goal set up the match for a frantic final ten minutes. Kerala came close to scoring on a couple of occasions, but also needed Dheeraj to make three brilliant saves on the other end.

The action-packed match ended 1-1.

HERO OF THE MATCH - Seiminlen Doungel

Seiminlen Doungel saw two of his shots cleared off the line but kept at it and was finally rewarded for his hard work with an all-important goal. He was the creative force behind most of Kerala’s attacks and was also available to track back whenever his team needed him to.

CLUB AWARDS

Club Award – Kerala Blasters FC and Jamshedpur FC

Swift Limitless Player of the Match – Memo

DHL Winning Pass of the Match – Slavisa Stojanovic

ISL Emerging Player of the Match – Jerry Mawhmingthanga

Hero of the Match – Seiminlen Doungel

WHAT’S NEXT?

Kerala will be back in action on December 7 when they host FC Pune City, while Jamshedpur’s next engagement will be at home against Delhi Dynamos FC on December 12.

Watch the match highlights here

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Related tags:

Kerala Blasters FCJamshedpur FC 2018-2019