ISL: Kerala Blasters pip Atletico De Kolkata 2-1

Kochi, Nov 21 (IANS) Riding on two first-half strikes, Kerala Blasters FC Friday pipped Atletico De Kolkata 2-1 in an Indian Super League encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here.

The Blasters scored as early as the fourth minute through Iain Hume, and doubled the lead towards the end of the session as hero of the match Pedro Gusmao found the target.

Fikru Teferra pulled one back after the breather for the losers, who remained at second place with 16 points from 10 outings. The Blasters are now placed a rung lower in the table with a point adrift of Atletico.

Canadian forward Hume put the ball into the net after he met a cross from Pedro Gusmao inside the Atlectico box.

However, Hume was a trifle lucky, as he failed to connect properly, but the ball trickled of his foot into the goal, triggering wild celebrations among the over 57,000 strong spectators.

Three minutes from the halfway mark, the second goal arrived for the home side when Gusmao sent Sandesh Jhingan's cross in, past Atletico custodian Subhashis Roy Chowdhury.

The second half began with Kolkata showing more initiative, as their marqee player Luis Garcia took the field replacing the lacklustre Arnal Llibert.

In the 55th minute, Ethiopian Fikru raised the hopes of a turnaround in the game, when he outpaced rival defender Cedric Hengbart, and flicked the ball off his toe into the goal.

It was a lively second half with each team creating chances. Godwin Franco's cross came off the Atletico cross bar and Baljit Sahni's hard driven cross from the right was held on by Blasters' glovesman David James.

The match officials turned down Atletico's claim of a goal in the dying minutes of injury time, sparking a controversy. Television replays, however, showed Garcia's rasping volley had hit the cross bar and crossed the goal line.