Kochi:
Delhi based ISL football club Delhi Dynamos’ third match in the tournament ended in a draw as they locked horns with Sachin Tendulkar’s Kerala Blasters. The match ended without any goal at 0-0.
With this draw, the Kerala franchise earned it first point in this year’s Indian Super League. Incidentally Kerala FC lost its first two matches in the tournament.
Played at Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the Kerala team fell short of utilizing the support from the home crowd as both teams were unable to score a goal in the match. Both teams had some close chances were none of them were able to get past ball behind goal post.
Delhi Dynamos were seen less charismatic as compared to their last two matches, in one of which they thrashed defending champions Chennaiyin FC.
Kerala Blasters manager Steve Coppell opted to start with three foreign players up front, handing Michael Chopra his first start of the season. The former Newcastle striker was accommodated after the home team opted for an Indian goalkeeper in Sandip Nandy, and the choice to have more foreign power upfront did not surprise anyone. Chopra was determined to not just open his account in this edition of ISL but also of his team. The England striker moved quickly, got into open spaces but remained unsuccessful all night. It was Chopra who was presented with the best chance of the first half and probably the match just seconds before the breather. Chopra received a long ball from his own half which evaded the entire Delhi defence. He was one-on-one with the goalkeeper but the narrow angle meant Delhi goalkeeper Doblas was able to get his hand to the ball and parry the danger away.
Delhi Dynamos were surprisingly subdued. Coming into this game on the back of an entertaining win over Chennaiyin FC, Delhi were expected to hit the ground running. The visitors, however, lacked direction and enterprise in the first session even though former Chelsea FC midfielder Florent Malouda was included in the starting XI.
Delhi rarely had clear looks at the rival goal and were restricted to long hopeful attempts which did not trouble the goalkeeper. The closest they got to the rival goal was when Brazilian striker Marcelinho, who scored a brace in their opening win, worked his way inside the danger zone beating a couple of defenders but Sandesh Jhingan stopped his run. Jhingan was also on hand to turn away a dangerous free-kick towards the closing stages with a slide and was later adjudged Hero of the Match.
Delhi Dynamos now have four points from two matches while Kerala have a point and are just above FC Goa at the bottom of the table.
