East Bengal Break 4-Game Winless Streak With 2-1 Win Against Kerala Blasters

East Bengal FC returned to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Kerala Blasters FC in an Indian Super League match on Friday. This was the Red and Gold brigade's first victory in five games, having last won 1-0 against Jamshedpur FC on December 21. A brilliant first half strike from PV Vishnu saw the hosts take the lead at half-time, before Hijazi Maher extended the advantage in the second half. Danish Farooq brought the Kerala Blasters FC back into the game with a late goal but in the end, it was only a consolation. With this win, the Red and Golds have also snapped their three-game losing streak in the current campaign.

The visitors had the lion's share of possession in the initial exchanges of the game whereas the Red and Golds waited for their opportunity to pounce on counter-attacks.

The Blasters were pretty one-dimensional with their reliance on Noah Sadaoui on the right flank and the hosts took advantage of this pattern.

The game's first chance fell to Dimitrios Diamantakos in the 15th minute when Naorem Mahesh Singh recycled possession and initiated a counter-attack. He released Diamantakos in space but Sachin Suresh kept out the Greek forward's effort on target.

Minutes later, Sachin was indecisive with a parry from Cleiton Silva's direct freekick on goal. Richard Celis latched onto the stray ball but he didn't have enough space to slot it home. With these attacks, the hosts were gradually gaining momentum.

Oscar Bruzon's men were rewarded in the 20th minute when Cleiton found Vishnu with an exquisite long ball on the right flank.

The youngster zoomed past his marker before dinking the ball over Sachin, who came out of his lines. The ball trickled over the goal-line as Korou Singh failed to clear the danger.

Aft