Kerala Blasters FC came from behind to strike twice in the second half and register a 2-1 win over Odisha FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi in the Indian Super League match on Friday.
The visitors drew first blood in the 16th minute through Diego Mauricio. The Brazilian has had a knack of scoring against the Blasters, netting for the sixth time in as many matches against the team from Kerala.
Mauricio had a chance to score a second, after Naocha Singh handled the ball inside the box to give Odisha FC a penalty. But Sachin Suresh in the Blasters’ goal dove the right way to make the save.
Kerala had to call up their Greek forward Dimitrios Diamantakos to draw the scores level. Adrian Luna pulled off a quick free-kick, and played a pass to Daisuke Sakai who put the ball through the Odisha defence for the striker. Diamantakos made the correct diagonal run inside the box and struck it into the net to secure the equaliser.
Luna led his pack with aplomb thereafter, riding that momentum to keep on exerting pressure on the Odisha defence.
The Juggernauts had won a free kick but Kerala struck back against the flow of the game with some flawless passing moves. Luna received the ball in the perfect goal-scoring position, and he optimised that with a neat shot that beat Odisha custodian Amarinder Singh to score in the 84th minute to give the hosts the win.