Highlanders edge past blasters 1-0 in the ISL 3 opener

by Chittu Shetty October 1, 2016

Northeast United opened their account in points table as Katsumi Yusa’s second half strike was enough to edge them past blasters.

The game was preceded by a grand opening ceremony with performances from Bollywood celebrities Alia Batt, Varun Dhawan and Jacqueline lighting up the stadium. NUFC owner John Abraham and Chennaiyin FC owner Abhishek Bachchan were joined by MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar representing their respective teams sharing a happy banter among themselves following it up with a fairplay oath. Also present on the occasion was Olympic Silver medallist PV Sindhu who did a ceremonial kickoff in front of more than 27000 people.

Unlike the high octane opening ceremony, the match had little exciting moments as both teams were looking to adjust to the tournament. The game started at a slow pace as both teams failed to mark a credible attempt on goal in the first half; the best attempt of the first half came to the visitors, when a Mehtab Hossain free Kick was headed across by an onrushing Jhingan at far post only for Romaric to block it out.

Both sides seemed evenly matched at half-time, with the score at 0-0, NUFC were expected to go for attack in the second half and so finally in the 55th minute the deadlock was broken. NUFC’s Argentine winger Velez dribbled past Jingan before sending a vicious pass across into the box, Blasters defence were founding napping as nobody went for the ball only for onrushing Katsumi Yusa to tap it inside at the edge of the goal post.

Also Read: Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Jacqueline Fernandes and Varun Dhawan to perform at the opening ceremony of the Hero Indian Super League 2016

At the hours mark, blasters had a golden opportunity for equaliser, when Subroto Paul came off his line to clear an aerial ball and missed only for Antonio german to hit it wide. In the 72nd minute, Borges’s long through-ball found Alfaro unmarked inside the box but the Uruguayan striker’s shot was brilliantly saved by blasters keeper as NUFC failed to double the lead.

Soon at the other end, Hengbart’s long ball saw Belfort lay the ball for substitute Chopra but the former Sunderland striker was denied an opportunity to shoot as Blasters defence managed to clear the ball.

Highlanders finished the game with a 1-0 Victory as Blasters failed to trouble the Northeast defence at the end. With this victory, Northeast United are on the top of the table, while blasters will be looking for better performances as they still seem to be in the same poor form of second season.

Northeast United FC 1 (Katsumi Yusa 55′) – 0 Kerala Blasters FC