ISL: Kerala Blasters solo goal win clears semi path

Goa: Enes Sipovic scored from a corner early in the second half to secure all the 3 points for the Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League match against SC East Bengal. With this win, the Ivan Vkomanovic coached Blasters were all but one step in the semifinals.

However, they need to evade defeat in their reaminders. Blasters were now placed third in the League Table behind Hyderabad and ATK Mohun Bagan. They play ATK in their next game on Feb 19 and need at least a draw to go further in the tourney.

Blasters had lost the first leg, which was also the opening match of the competition, to ATK. The Blasters, who took the ground with a black outfit rather than their traditional yellow, had a clear-cut advantage in the game with more ball possession, but East Bengal showed their calibre at times and came very close to scoring in more than two occasions in the latter half.

For the Blasters, their star striker Alvaro Vazquez again displayed a superb game along with the scorer Sipovic, the Argentine Pereyra Diaz and Adrian Luna.

In the dying minutes, East Bengal defender Hira Mondal escaped a red card on a harsh charge on Luna as he was shown only a yellow. For East Bengal, they will try to gain as many points from their remaining matches to avert the bottom finish in the table.