There were rich rewards for the winner of Wednesday night’s game in the Hero Indian Super League at the Nehru Stadium here. A victory would have helped Mumbai City FC jump to the top of the table from the fourth spot while Kerala Blasters would have moved three rungs to third.
But despite these precious prizes, Blasters and Mumbai could just manage a goalless draw in the league’s eighth round and the one point that each team got helped the two retain their current positions in the table.
It was a game that the home side dominated in front of 40,000 roaring fans and co-owner Sachin Tendulkar but in the end, there was only disappointment.
Games in the ISL have frequently been fought at a hot and frenetic pace in the opening session and tonight’s match was no different. Blasters, which had a goalless draw in the last game too, brought Goan striker Milagres, who had struck the match-winner in the first home game here a few days ago, and the Kerala-born C.S. Sabeeth into the starting line-up.
Sabeeth, used in the left wing in the 4-4-1-1 formation, came up with a steady stream of passes to the penalty area while Godwin Franco produced quite a number of promising high balls from the right.
Best chanceBlasters went on the attack early. And the Mumbai goalkeeper Subrata Paul stopped a dangerous header from Milagres from close in the 10th minute after picking the ball from Sabeeth.
That was probably Blasters’ best chance of the day.
And towards the end of the opening session, Sabeeth trapped Sandesh Jhingan’s cross but Milagres’s attempt was blocked away.
In between, around the half-hour mark, Anelka found a way past three defenders but his shot went for a corner.
The second half began rather quietly but there was a flurry of action soon after the arrival of Canadian international Iain Hume, who replaced Penn Orji in the 62nd minute.
Hume did not take long to settle down and soon, he was in the thick of things with crosses to the left.
One such move, after a cross from Sabeeth from the left and Hume on the right almost saw Milagres scoring. But Mumbai stayed safe.
The Mumbai’s attack, which missed its ISL’s only hat-trick hero Andre Moritz badly, did not look very convincing tonight. And the team’s best chance came a little after the 75th minute. A goalmouth melee ensued after Subash Singh’s shot was cleared by marquee player David James. Immediately after, James stretched fully to push away Tiago’s shot from the left.
Shortly after that, Blasters pulled out Sabeeth and brought in Ishfaq Ahmed, while Mumbai substituted Subash with Nadong Bhutia.
Blasters had another chance in the injury time. Stephen Pearson, Blasters’ star midfielder, came up with a lovely freekick but Rafael Romey’s header was taken comfortably by Subrata Paul.
