ISL 2024-25: Kerala Blasters thrashes Chennayin 3-1 to win in Chennai for the first time

ISL 2024-25: Kerala Blasters thrashes Chennayin 3-1 to win in Chennai for the first time

Kerala Blasters grabbed the bragging rights in the latest instalment of an Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 southern derby with a 3-1 win against Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Thursday.

Jesus Jimenez, Korou Singh Thingujam and Kwame Peprah netted once each while captain Adrian Luna assisted twice as Blasters won its first-ever match at the Marina Arena.

Vincy Barretto scored the lone goal for the hosts.

Starting without forward Noah Sadaoui, it did not take long for the Blasters to silence the home support. In the third minute, Korou cut to his left and slipped a pass for Jimenez, who shot on the turn from a tight angle to beat Mohammad Nawaz.

The Blasters’ incessant pressing almost paid off again in the 12th minute. Peprah weaved a defence-splitting pass for Jimenez, but the Spaniard failed to beat Nawaz in a one-on-one situation.

The evening took a turn for the worse for Chennaiyin in the 37th minute. With the ball nowhere in sight, Wilmar Jordan Gil pushed Milos Drincic to the ground aggressively and the referee brandished a straight red for the Colombian.

A 10-man Chennaiyin had the chance to finish the half on a high, but it wasted a guilt-edged chance in the 44th minute.

Farukh Choudhary showed quick feet to beat his marker on the left flank and swung a cross inside the box, which, received by Lukas Brambilla, couldn’t be converted from a close distance.

Chennaiyin thought it would go into half-time, trailing by one goal, but lackadaisical defending saw the home team concede a second in first-half stoppage time.

Luna got the ball at the edge of the box and rolled it to Korou inside the box. With ample time and space to shoot, the youngster shot hard and low, rattling the bottom-left corner.

Chennaiyin showed urgency in the early minutes of the second half and almost pulled a goal back in the 54th minute when Connor Shields dispatched a curler from the edge of the box.

However, the ball lacked the necessary bend to rattle the net.

Two minutes later, the Blasters punished Chennaiyin again. Luna spotted Peprah’s run inside the boxes and sent a perfect dinked cross for the Ghanaian, who found the net on the volley.

Chennaiyin’s head coach Owen Coyle introduced two fresh attacking options, Barretto and Daniel Chima Chukwu, after the hour mark. The latter could have who could have scored in the 82nd minute but hit the side-netting with a near-post effort.

But Barretto gave Chennaiyin fans some reason to cheer with a consolation goal in second-half stoppage time, converting Irfan Yadwad’s cross from the left flank.

In the dying minutes of the match, the Blasters’ saw a fallout between teammates Luna and Sadaoui after the latter did not pass the ball to the Uruguayan, who looked in a better position to score.

But with seconds left on the clock, interim head coach T. G. Purushothaman kept a compact backline to seal maximum points at the Marina Arena.

“That happens in football. It’s nothing. Everything is fine between them [in the dressing room],” Purushothaman said after the match.

The win keeps the Blasters in eighth place, with 24 points from 19 matches, while Chennaiyin remains 10th with 18 points from the same number of outings.