Kerala Blasters bagged their first victory of the season after a dashing performance in the match against Hyderabad FC. Adul Hakku gave the lead in 29 minutes of the match and Jordon Murray scored in the 89th to seal the game.
Both sides were aggressive from the beginning of the match. Kerala took advantage from a goal by Abdul Hakku. Hakku was in the right position inside the box. Payera took a corner with no mistakes and Hakku produced a header out of it making Subratha Pal a helpless spectator. A few minutes later, Kerala nearly scored a goal. This time Subartha Pal denied the goal with a top-notch save. Jordon Murray made the final blow by capitalising on a mistake from defender Adhil Khan.
Kerala Blasters had an opportunity to break the deadlock in the early minutes of the match. Sahal failed to convert an opportunity into a goal. Hyderabad also created some chances but failed exceptionally to convert them.
Kerala Blasters coach Vicuna made some important changes which turned out to be decisive in the match. He replaced two foreign centre- backs, Bakary Kone and Costa Nhamoinesu, with Indians Hakku and Sandeep Singh, who was new to this season. Both the players retained the faith of their coach with performance of justifying his decision. The coach also replaced Garry Hooper with Jordan Murray. This changes had a great role in bringing the positive result.