ISL: Kerala Blasters held by spirited Delhi Dynamos

Kochi: An inspired Delhi Dynamos held Kerala Blasters to a 1-1 draw as the hosts once again failed to guard a slender 1-0 lead in the final moments of the game in the Indian Super League match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday.

Delhi was the better team as they controlled the game in the midfield and kept testing the Kerala defence from the word go. The hosts conceded half a dozen corners in the first half, with Delhi coming close on at least a couple of occasions. However in the second half, in a payback, Blasters scored from a corner in the 48th minute through their ace forward C K Vineeth.

Kerala came back from the break replacing Halicharan Narzary with Matej Poplatnik. And Blasters' boss David James was spot on with the move as a poorly cleared Slavisla Stojanovic-delivery allowed Poplatnik to sneak a peach for Vineeth, who was flanked by two Delhi defenders. The Kerala forward wasted no time and rattled the Delhi net with a first-touch kick to the low right corner.

That lone goal could not see Kerala through as Andrija Kaludjerovic found Delhi's equaliser through a header in the 84th minute.

Delhi kept Kerala on the backfoot for most of the match with their aggressive approach that paid off. Kerala were once again bitten by their waiting game as Kaludjerovic speared in a looped ball from his captain Pritam Kotal. An uninspired try from Nikola Krcmarevic could not avert the inevitable. Everything went against Kerala in that moment as their captain Sandesh Jhinghan, who was at his defensive best till then, was rolling on the ground after a collision.

Blasters, playing their second successive home match after a two-week break, played totally out of sync and paid dearly for it. They repeated the same mistakes committed against Mumbai City FC against whom they conceded a 1-1 draw in similar fashion.

Naveen Kumar, playing in place of regular Kerala Custodian Dheeraj Singh, had a mixed game as he fumbled some easy clearance and compensated it with some brilliant saves. He almost gave away a goal in the 27th minute while trying to collect a curling corner from Delhi's Narayan Das. The ball fell in front of Andrija Kaluderovic who missed it in the mix of events.

Kerala will play Jamshedpur FC away in their next match on October 29.