Alvaro Vazquez scored a goal of the season contender in Kerala Blasters’ 2-1 win over NorthEast United on Friday night at the Tilak Maidan. The Blasters had Ayush Adhikari sent off in the second half, but they held onto their lead to see out the win.
The win sends KBFC to second in the Indian Super League table. Despite playing more than twenty minutes with a man fewer, after midfielder Ayush Adkhikari had picked up a second booking, Ivan Vukomanovic’s men compounded their lead – and then held onto it to see out the win.
VP Suhair and Jorge Pereyra Diaz launched early efforts on goal for their respective teams, laying the foundations of an end-to-end attacking tie. Shots from Marcelinho and Hernan Santana put NorthEast in the ascendancy midway through the first half, but Kerala finished the period stronger of the two sides.
They nearly went into the break with a one-goal lead, too, as Jeakson Singh’s header from a corner clipped the top of the bar and bounced behind to safety.
Kerala picked up where they left off in the second half – with Alvaro Vazquez and Adrian Luna coming close to scoring the opener. The first goal of the game arrived in the 62nd minute through Pereyra Diaz. The forward nodded in from close range, having been set up by Harman Khabra with a cushioned header.
Adhikari saw red for a second bookable offense eight minutes after Kerala had taken the lead.
That, however, did not stop the side from doubling their tally in the 82nd minute through Vazquez, whose goal of the season contender – an effort from deep inside his half – put them in the clear. Khabra almost settled the match four minutes later, but his flicked header from a corner rattled the crossbar.
Mohammed Irshad pulled a goal back for the Highlanders in the sixth minute of stoppage time – a sensational effort in its own right, a first-time hit from outside the box – but it was too late to mount a comeback, and they succumbed to a fourth defeat in five.
