Here are the games this week, with their reports below (latest match first):
Apr 23: Kerala Blasters FC vs Odisha FC (7:30pm)
Apr 24: NorthEast United FC vs FC Goa (7:30pm)
Apr 25: Bengaluru FC vs Mumbai City FC (5pm), Jamshedpur FC vs Chennaiyin FC (7:30pm)
Apr 26: SC Delhi vs Mohammedan SC (7:30pm)
Apr 28: East Bengal FC vs Odisha FC (7:30pm)
Kerala Blasters 2 – 1 Odisha FC
Kerala Blasters earned their third win of the season with a dramatic injury-time winner over Odisha FC, as Matías Hernández scored from a corner in a 2-1 win. The result pushed the Blasters up to ninth in the table with 11 points, while Odisha remained second-from-bottom.
Kerala Blasters didn’t take long to open the scoring, with Víctor Bertomeu finding the net in the twelfth minute. Kévin Yoke jinked his way towards goal and took a shot from range, which took a deflection and looped perfectly into Bertomeu in space the box. The Blasters’ striker took a touch and then calmly slotted it past Amrinder Singh to open the scoring. The hosts looked in perfect control, but spurned a few promising positions and were made to pay in the 27th minute as Odisha equalized. Puitea spied Rahim Ali making a clever run into space on the right side of the box and threaded him through, with the Odisha striker sidefooting a powerful low drive into the bottom corner without breaking stride to make it 1-1.
Franchu threatened for the Blasters as the half went on, with a shot from range, and a low cross that was begging to be turned in, but nothing came of it as both sides went into the break on level terms.
The second half saw both sides threaten, but fail to create clear-cut chances for a majority of the second period. Odisha ought to have scored from a set-piece in the 87th minute, as a headed layoff saw the ball bounce two yards in front of goal, but an acrobatic overhead clearance from Aiban saw the Blasters defender prevent Hitesh Sharma from scoring. That proved to be worth its weight in gold as the Blasters scored the winner in injury time. Ebindas Yesudasan sent in a teasing corner from the left, as Amrinder missed the flight of the ball and substitute Hernández headed into an empty net to make it 2-1 for the hosts. There was more drama in store as Odisha’s defence failed to play to the whistle and waited for an offside, but Kevin Yoke ran through and scored, only for the referee to overturn it. Vanlalzuidika Chhakchhuak then almost nicked a goal for Odisha at the death, but the Blasters sealed a fortunate victory.
