Raphael Messi Bouli and Amini Chermiti were on target as the teams played out a draw…
Mumbai City FC and Kerala Blasters FC played out a 1-1 draw at the Mumbai City Arena on Wednesday.
Messi Bouli (75′) opened the scoring but Amine Chermiti (77′) equalised almost immediately to ensure the visitors took away just one point from the fixture.
It was all Kerala from the get-go as the visitors kept possession well and frustrated the hosts. The scorelines, however, remained unchanged. Eelco Schattorie’s men had the biggest chance of the half when Messi attempted an outrageous overhead kick from the edge of the box. Amrinder Singh, however, was equal to the task and acrobatically clawed away the shot.
Jeakson Singh nearly fashioned an opening for Seityasen Singh to latch onto with a lofted ball that had the Mumbaikars’ defence at sixes and sevens. Amrinder, however, was anticipating the ball and nipped the chance in the bud with a smart take.
Devoid of attacking prowess up until the 35the minute, Larbi nearly put the ball into the Blasters’ net after T. P. Rehenesh ended up misjudging the flight of a well-floated ball from Sougou. The Tunisian, however, was caught off-guard and looped the header over the bar.
The hosts then spurned the best chance of the match until then, when Sougou, clear on goal after brilliant build-up play, displayed the rustiness of a player just inching his way back to full fitness. The Portuguese striker could only place a shot into Rehenesh’s grateful arms.
Mumbai had two gilt-edged chances after the break. First came off a Larbi buzzcut from about 20 yards to goal, which just looped over the Rehenesh’s goal.
The second came off a counter-attack sprung by the team in blue from midfield, which saw Moudou sent clear again. Just as in the first half, Rehenesh was equal to the opportunity and rushed off his line to successfully prevent Moudou from having a clean shot at his target.
The Match then witnessed a complete see-saw of emotions. Blasters’ took the lead through intricate, one-touch football on the edge of the box between Jeakson and Cindoncha.
The former drifted unchallenged in the box and finally took a shot at Amrinder. The rebound was floated in from the left for Messi who capitalized on tame defending and struck home the opening goal.
Mumbai City hit back with a goal of their own two minutes later. Sarthak Golui floated in a brilliant cross which Moudou did well to connect with. His headed effort set Amine Chermiti up right in front of the goal. Despite seeing his initial tame shot saved by the Kerala custodian, the Tunisian got a second bite of the cherry to prod home Mumbai City’s equalizer.
Three minutes of added time petered out into nothingness as Mumbai City and Kerala Blasters’ ended the match deadlocked as they had begun.
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