After a thumping 3-0 win on the weekend, Kerala Blasters suffered a humbling 1-0 defeat to FC Goa in the Indian Super League at home on Thursday.

Boris Singh's 40th-minute strike, once again exposing Sachin Suresh's poor goalkeeping, was enough to give the Blasters a fourth defeat of the season at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi.

This was the first time in 12 ISL matches that the Blasters had gone without scoring. The last time the Manjappada failed to score in the ISL was on April 6, 2024 against NorthEast United (2-0) in Guwahati. The Blasters had scored at least one goal in each of their previous nine ISL matches this season.

Goa had scored against the run of play. The Blasters had dominated possession, raking up almost 70% in the first 25 minutes as they pushed the full-backs higher up. Boris had been released into a vacant area on the Blasters' left that had been thrown open by Naocha Singh. The young midfielder dashed into the edge of the box, and it is unsure if he was attempting a cross, but his shot sneaked in from the clutches of Sachin, whom Mikael Stahre repeatedly endorsed as the Blasters' first-choice custodian. For most goalkeepers in the highest level of Indian club football that was a routine collection, but Sachin somehow managed to turn the effort into his own goal.

Almost nothing went right for Stahre's men on the night; even a freekick from the edge of the box that Adrian Luna so often manages to score from ended in a routine strike straight at the keeper. Substitute Korou Singh was denied a penalty at the start of an eight-minute injury time. The young winger perhaps had a point as his shot hit a diving Sandesh Jhingan on the arm. The former Blasters captain had been resolute in the heart of the Goan defence alongside skipper Odei Zabala.

Guarrotxena had hit the post from a freekick early on for the Goans, who did not even need their leading goal scorer Armando Sadiku. The Albanian with eight goals this season was only introduced in the 85th minute when Manolo Marquez' men were determined to preserve the scoreline more than adding to it.

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Noah Sadaoui, playing for the first time against his former side, Goa, had a glorious chance early on when he cut inside on his right before flashing over.

Jesus Jimenez, the Blasters striker, aiming to make it seven goals in as many games, did not get sufficient service from his teammates. Stahre was forced to make a triple change in the 57th minute. The Swede removed Jimenez for Kwame Peprah, the Blasters' best available attacker on the bench. Rahul K P, who had earned a rare start, was taken off for the 17-year-old Korou. Pritam Kotal, too, was off and replaced by Sandeep Singh, who went straight to the right-back position. Sandeep was gifted with a dream chance to level the game in the dying moments, but he simply smashed his effort into the side netting to the disappointment of Stahre.

The Blasters remain ninth in the points table with 11 points from 10 matches and a goal difference of -2. Goa, meanwhile, have climed to the fifth position on 15 points from nine.

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