ISL: Kerala Blaster vs Bengaluru FC: Hosts secure comeback victory as Benglauru slip further

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Kerala Blasters overcame an early deficit to win a five-goal thriller in Kochi as they beat Bengaluru FC 3-2 in the Indian Super League (ISL) on Sunday. This is the 5th victory in a row for the Manjappada in the league.

Marko Leskovic, Dimitrios Diamantakos and Apostolos Giannou scored for the Manjappada while Sunil Chhetri and Javi Hernandez got the goals for Bengaluru FC.

As it Happened:

Bengaluru came to the game on the back of five defeats in the last six matches. And the away side took the lead in the 14th minute from the spot. Star striker Sunil Chhetri converted the spot-kick to give them a massive lead in the early stages of the match.

But the hosts came back within ten minutes as Marko Leskovic equalised. The former Croatia international had a chance in the box after a set-piece and the defender made no mistake to bury it in the back of the net, thus restoring parity for Manjappadas. Two minutes from half-time, Kerala completed the turnaround as Dimitrios Diamantakos gave them the lead. At the break, it was the home side with a slender lead.

After the break, the home side escalated their intensity and had the better of the ball and chances. They came close twice but couldn't extend their lead.

The match came to life in the final twenty minutes. Kerala extended the lead in the 70th minute through Apostolos Giannou as the Greek squeezed the ball in from a narrow-angle, but their two-goal cushion was halved nine minutes from time as Javi Hernandez got Bengaluru back in the game with a terrific strike.

It was a nail-biting finish but the home side held on to get all three points with a 3-2 victory to their name.

Aftermath:

Blasters move to 4th in the ISL table with the win. They will be travelling to Chennai to face Chennaiyin FC in the next match on December 19. Bengaluru FC are struggling in the 9th place and host fellow strugglers Jamshedpur FC next on December 17.

Kerala Blasters vs Bengaluru FC Lineup:

Kerala: Gill; Sandeep Singh, Hormipam, Leskovic, Kumar; Praveen, Singh, Kaliuzhnyi, Samad; Luna, Diamantakos

Bengaluru: Sandhu; Das, Jhungan, Jovanovic, Bhutia; Singh, Hernandez, Bhat; Singh, Krishna, Chhetri

Key Stats:

- Dimitrios Diamantakos kept 3 shots on target and finished the game with a goal and an assist.
- Javi Hernandez scored with his solitary effort on target.
- Adrian Luna created 3 chances and finished the game with 1 assist.