Kerala Blasters FC backed attacking intent with smart finishes to seal victory and steal three points from FC Pune City in the Hero Indian Super League here on Thursday.
India striker C.S. Sabeeth followed the ball to guide in the first goal, Nigerian substitute Penn Orji tapped in the second for the visitors’ first win from four games.
David Trezeguet’s classy 15th-minute goal for the home side was neutralised by Sabeeth and by the time Blasters upped the pace in the second half, Pune had its back to the wall.
Iain Hume excelled for the visitors, creating space for fellow strikers with off-the-ball runs and set up the second goal.
Kerala marquee player David James raised his arms in triumph at the final whistle. A cheer should also go up for assistant coach Trevor Morgan for sending in Milagres Gonsalves and Orji to strengthen the offence.
The Pune defence focused on shadowing Hume, creating space for lesser known forwards to hit back.
Pune custodian Belardi was kept on his toes by Blasters pushing forward through the right and floating balls into the goalmouth for Hume to pop up for headers.
The early minutes saw the defences on the alert, forcing the match official to flash yellow cards at Tapan Maity and Nirmal Chhetri.
Trezeguet displayed his goal-getting instincts to put the home team ahead. Dutch forward John Goosens deserves credit for sensing space beyond the left-back and floating the ball in for the French ace to finish effortlessly, timing his run to meet the ball unmarked and scoring with a first-time volley.
Blasters slogged hard to wrest control of the game. The experienced Renedy Singh was replaced in the midfield with the enterprising Ishfaq Ahmed.
The ball was shifted up and down the field, without anyone getting a clear sight of goal. The Pune defence appeared effective under pressure, guided by Italian Cirillo.
Hume curled a direct free-kick long, Sabeeth chased a pass into the goalmouth and failed to beat a defender to the ball. Blasters forced a breakthrough on the next move, a flag-kick by Stephen Pearson nodded down by Cedric Hengbert for Sabeeth to follow up and help the ball home four minutes before half-time.
Blasters’ desire for points was expressed in a tactical move, taking out captain Mehtab Hoosein and injecting fresh legs into the attack.
Milagres Gonsalves came in, facing a new goalkeeper in Arindam Bhattacharya, replacing an injured Belardi. The new man under the bar had plenty to do, a ferocious first-time blast off a Hume cutback from the goalline saw Arindam tracking the ball, which hit a Blasters forward and bounced away from danger.
Arindam rushed out and dived to collect the ball tapped into the goalmouth, with Sabeeth in pursuit.
Nigerian Orji, brought in for Pedro, made his presence felt with a deft left-footed placement inside the right post for Blasters’ second goal. Hume again the creator by turning a harmless throw-in into unguarded space for the substitute to deal the body-blow.
Blasters now have four points, occupy fifth place in the league and move to Mumbai for the fifth consecutive away game.
Pune, in sixth place after its first defeat at home, hosts NorthEast United FC next.
The results:
Kerala Blasters 2 (C.S. Sabeeth 41, Penn Orji 65) bt FC Pune City 1 (David Trezeguet 15).
