Kerala Blasters came back from a goal down to beat East Bengal 2-1 in their Indian Super League (ISL) match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Sunday.
East Bengal took the lead in the 59th minute through Vishnu Puthiya before the Blasters pumped in two goals in the final 30 minutes through Noah Sadaoui (63rd) and Kwame Peprah (88th) to secure all three points from the contest in front of a passionate and vociferous home crowd.
Courtesy impactful forwards from both ends, the opening half of the game saw close chances coming the way of Jesus Jimenez and Dimitrios Diamantakos.
The duo was unable to convert those opportunities for their respective sides, but in the 59th minute, Diamantakos paved the way for the Red & Gold Brigade to take an important lead away from home.
Kerala Blasters FC defender Sandeep Singh's clearance was intercepted by the lively Nandhakumar Sekar on the left flank for East Bengal. The attacker laid the ball for Diamantakos inside the box. The Greek forward could have attempted a shot, but he instead squared a pass for the 22-year-old Vishnu Puthiya on the right.
Vishnu met the pass perfectly and tapped the ball into the back of the net to open the scoring for East Bengal.
Kerala Blasters striker Noah Sadaoui then steered broke past the East Bengal defence with utmost ease. His sharp footwork and movement in the box allowed him to get an equaliser past Prabhsukhan Singh Gill in the 63rd minute.
East Bengal defender Anwar Ali's hasty clearance landed on the feet of Mohammed Aimen, who spotted Kwame Peprah with space near the 18-yard box. Peprah took his time and buried the ball into the back of the net in the 88th minute to seal the win for the Mikael Stahre-coached team.
This was the 12th goal after the 85th minute mark in ISL 2024-25, highlighting how teams and results are going down to the wire.
Kerala Blasters face NorthEast United on September 29 while East Bengal will lock horns with FC Goa on September 27 for their next match.
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