Team Herald
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PANJIM: Just when it looked like Kerala Blasters would register their first win, Idrissa Sylla scored an injury time equaliser for NorthEast United FC to end the game 2-2 in the Indian Super League match played at GMC Stadium, Bambolim, on Thursday.
Sergio Cidoncha had given Kerala Blasters a 5th minute lead before Gary Hooper doubled the tally before the break. NorthEast United came back strongly in the second and scored twice through Kwesi Appiah and Sylla, despite the former missing a penalty earlier in the game.
After a minute’s silence to honour Diego Maradona, Kerala got off to a dream start with Cidoncha heading in a Seityasen free-kick in the 5th minute. The Spaniard’s looped header was a thing of beauty — no goalkeeper in the world could have saved that.
Both teams struggled to create clear-cut chances until the end of the first half until an offensive move from Kerala ended with the referee pointing to the spot. Rakesh Pradhan was rather harshly adjudged to have slashed Lalthathanga Khawlhring down. Hooper fired the resulting penalty straight down the middle. NorthEast keeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury managed to get a foot to it, but the touch wasn’t enough to keep the ball out.
The Highlanders started the second-half positively and were soon rewarded for their intent. Some poor defending by Kerala allowed Appiah to score from close range. However, Appiah turned villain soon later when NorthEast were awarded a penalty which he missed. Minutes after his miss, Appiah was replaced by Guinean forward Sylla who would go on to have a major influence on the game. made up for earlier miss in injury time, controlling a long ball from Gurjinder Kumar and powering home past Albino Gomes.
