Kerala Blasters FC ran away to a 3-1 win against NorthEast United FC in their opening Hero Indian Super League Season 2 encounter at Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Tuesday.Both teams went into half time at 0-0 but after the break Kerala Blasters FC upped the tempo by bringing on striker Sanchez Watt right at the outset and the move paid off as the Englishman breathed plenty of life into the home team. Josu Currias, former India frontman Mohammed Rafi and Watt scored in the space of 23 minutes to put it beyond the visitors, before Nicolas Velez got the consolation goal late on.Kerala Blasters FC head coach Peter Taylor, speaking at the post-match conference, shed light on his decision of bringing ex-Arsenal player Watt in place of Chris Dagnall. “It was Chris’ first game. He was trying to pick up through-balls, hence he was sprinting a lot. In the second half, I thought pace was needed and so I brought on Sanchez,” Taylor said.However, Taylor wasn’t very satisfied with his team’s showing and said they could have done a lot better. “We played well but I think we could play a lot better. In the first half, I think we played bad. We could have scored two or three goals,” Taylor said.Kerala Blasters FC captain Peter Ramage, who has also played for Newcastle United in the English Premier League, was thrilled at playing in front of more than 60,000 spectators. “This was the best experience ever. I couldn’t talk to my players, the noise was just incredible. I’ve never experienced this before,” the Englishman said.
