Bhubaneswar: A dream start turned into a nightmarish ending for Odisha FC at Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as they suffered a heartbreaking 2-3 loss to Kerala Blasters in their ISL clash on Monday night.
Jerry Mawihmingthanga showed great opportunism to hand Odisha FC the lead after just four minutes to silence the home crowd.
The Kalinga Warriors took a 1-0 lead into halftime, and the scoreline stayed that way till the hour-mark before it all started happening.
Kwame Peprah, Kerala Blasters’ Ghanaian striker, placed his right-footer past Amrinder Singh to restore parity. Spaniard Jesus Jimenez outjumped Odisha defenders to nod the ball in after 73 minutes.
Trailing 1-2, Odisha FC raided the Blasters citadel and found the equaliser in the 80th minute. Blasters goalkeeper Sachin Suresh kept out a free-kick by Diego Mauricio and then blocked Saviour Gama’s attempt off the rebound. The ricochet fell for Dorielton, who hammered it home this time.
Odisha FC were then dealt a body blow as Carlos Delgado was sent off following his second yellow card in the 83rd minute.
The Kalinga Warriors fought on gamely with 10 men but ultimately cracked in the 95th minute as Noah Sadaoui found the mark.
Odisha are in seventh place with 21 points from 16 matches. Their next outing is another away game, against Bengaluru FC, on January 22.
