Kerala Blasters FC assistant coach Trevor Morgan was in particularly good spirits today as his team came from a goal down to win 1-2 away to FC Pune City. This was their first win of the tournament, and Morgan was glad that the tactics used in the game paid off.Unlike in the Blasters' previous three games, Penn Orji did not start, and was introduced in the second half instead. Morgan said this decision was part of the Kerala gameplan, and he was glad that this switch decided the outcome of the match. The fact that Orji was the last substitute to be brought on was especially sweet for Morgan. “Renedy Singh was a tactical switch and Mehtab’s was an injury, so we had to save the last sub because if we had any more injuries we would have been down to 10 men. Luckily, we got the two goals and got the points!” said the coach.A very familiar concern for them was the lack of concentration while defending set pieces. Pune City opened the scoring with a quickly-taken free kick when Kerala switched off momentarily. “We were really disappointed with the goal we conceded - out of all the five goals we’ve conceded in this tournament, four have been from dead ball situations. It was a free kick and no one was there to stop the ball. This is something we work on in training. If you switch off you get punished.”Morgan also spoke about the balancing act between the number of Indian and foreign players. “Everyone’s important. It’s a long season in terms of games to be played. If you get injured for ten days then you could miss at least four games so it’s very important that your squad is fully fit for every match,” he said.But there’s no time to dwell on it, as the Kerala Blasters FC travel to Mumbai to face Mumbai City FC on November 2. His thoughts are already on that game. “I don’t think it will be an easy game, I don’t think any game will be easy. We’re away from home again, Mumbai have just come away with a bad result, so we might have another backlash on the cards.” Kerala fans will be hoping not, so that they could welcome the team home on a winning note, as they finally kick off their home campaign on their return.
