Indian Super League: Kerala, NorthEast take a point each

Bartholomew Ogbeche and Asamoah Gyan’s penalties cancelled each other out. While NorthEast continues its unbeaten run on the road, Kerala was left without a win since the opening day. Blasters occupies the ninth position with eight points from 10 matches, with NorthEast sitting seventh with 11 points.

Eelco Schattorie chose to drop Messi Bouli and included Sahal Samad in his starting eleven. Tourist NEUFC was boosted with the return of Gyan from injury as he started alongside Martin Chaves and Panagiotis Traidis in the attacking trident. It was the home side which had the first opportunity as early as the seventh minute.

Prasanth Karuthadathkuni unleashed a rocket from outside the box, but Subashish Chowdhury did well to parry it over. At the other end, Gyan made his presence felt as his towering header off a Triadis set piece missed the target by a couple of inches. Later, Mohammed Rakip gave away the ball cheaply and Lalthathanga Khawlring passed it to Gyan, who was in acres of space. However, the Ghanaian striker skied his effort from inside the box. After the half-an-hour mark, Ogbeche was brought down outside the box by Kai Heerings.

The ensuing free-kick by Mario Arques was parried away for a corner by the NorthEast custodian. From the flag-kick, Moustapha Gning’s header went over the bar as he was left unmarked inside the box. Schattorie then chose to substitute Sahal and bring in Messi in order to play more direct.

Kerala won a penalty when Ogbeche chased a pass by Arques and was impeded in his run by the goalkeeper. The Nigerian striker converted the spot-kick by placing his shot to the left of the Subashish to make it 1-0. The equaliser came through another penalty in less than five minutes into the second half.

Seityasen Singh was adjudged to have handled the ball from a Rakesh Pradhan cross and Gyan did the needful to make it 1-1. Neither team could create clear-cut chances in the final quarter of the game as they settled for a point each.