Kerala Blasters FC have extended their unbeaten run to seven games as Sahal Abdul Samad canceled out Greg Stewart's opener to settle for a 1-1 draw against Jamshedpur FC.
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Kerala Blasters FC boss Ivan Vukomanovic was happy after the team’s 1-1 draw against Jamshedpur FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) fixture on Sunday. They have now extended their unbeaten run to seven games. Blasters have played three games in the span of seven days and accumulated seven points. Greg Stewart put JFC ahead in the 14th minute with a sensational free-kick while KBFC equalized through Sahal Abdul Samad in the 27th minute. The result helped both teams to 13 points from 8 games, two behind leaders Mumbai City FC who will take on NorthEast United FC on Monday.
Vukomanovic said after the match “ You know, today’s result is just the end of one exhausting week. And we were looking towards today’s game as a kind of effort that we have to go through. We knew that it will be exhausting, we knew that it would be a tough and physical game against this Jamshedpur FC match because that’s the way they play: physical, tough game.”
Recapping #KBFCJFC through the best ? from the game ⏩
Read The Rewind – KBFC vs JFC ⤵️#YennumYellow #KBFC #കേരളബ്ലാസ്റ്റേഴ്സ്
— K e r a l a B l a s t e r s F C (@KeralaBlasters) December 27, 2021
He added “ when you are at the end of one very hard week, like we had now, in the last seven days, the game against Mumbai City FC, the game against Chennaiyin FC, and today, we knew that it will be tough, we knew that it will be physical and we will be exhausted ”
After an end-to-end affair in the first half, the second failed to live up to the expectation as both sides canceled each other out. The high intensity physical game probably took a toll on the players.
JFC central defender Peter Hartley made it tough for Blasters attackers Jorge Diaz and Alvaro Vazquez. Meanwhile at the other end Jeakson Singh did a fine job to man-mark Stewart. Apart from the free-kick goal, the Scottish footballer couldn’t make too much of an impact.
The Serbian coach was happy with his side’s performance and he said “we knew exactly how they wanted to play with the long balls, with the pressure on our last line, and with the running man behind the back. So we were ready for that, we were ready for that fight and as a coach, I’m happy to see our boys in the last week play three exhausting games with three different approaches and different ways of playing football.”
“we are happy with the positive attitude, we are happy with the positive outcome because for us, it’s seven games in a row without defeat. For the club as well, it’s a huge achievement, and we have to be all happy. And I’m happy for the fans because they enjoy our work, they enjoy playing style, they enjoy seeing the boys being together all the time, attacking together, defending together”
Adrian Luna has been a key player for Blasters. The Uruguayan midfielder has registered three assists and scored once in seven games. However, in the last game he was subbed early in the second half because of a slight niggle.
“Luna was playing the last three games at high intensity. He felt the kind of issue in the second half. So we didn’t want to make it worse, we didn’t want to take a risk. So we anticipated and just took him off. Because we want to have him ready for the next game. So hopefully nothing’s wrong, nothing’s bad. He told us that he just felt a little bit. So we’ll see what the medical staff say. Hopefully he will be right for the next game.”
KBFC will next take on FC Goa on Sunday.
