KOCHI: The goalless stalemate between Kerala Blasters and Jamshedpur FC in their ISL encounter at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Wednesday didn't tell the story of what was a thoroughly one-sided game.
Blasters were utterly dominant from start to finish and could have finished with at least two to three goals but at full time, they were left with only a point.
The result extends their unbeaten run to five games but they have lost crucial points in their bid to close the gap to top four with games running out. As for Jamshedpur, they would consider themselves lucky to walk away with a point and are still winless in 2021.
Unlike some of the games this season, this encounter came alive almost immediately after the referee blew the whistle.
Both teams had made their intentions clear that they wanted to take the game to the opposition and go for the three points. The first opportunity of the game fell to Jamshedpur from a goalkeeping error. Albino Gomes who has established himself as one of the best shot-stoppers in the league showed that he can be a little suspect with the ball at his feet. His miscued clearance without any Jamshedpur players closing him down fell straight to Nerijus Valskis.
The Lithuanian's effort was tipped onto the post by Gomes who was lucky not to see the ball in the net.
After some early pressure from Jamshedpur, Blasters switched into a different gear in the final ten minutes of the game.
It was wave after wave of attacks and they were unlucky not to take the lead. Even though Gary Hooper has not been in the best of forms, he was having one of his best games in a yellow shirt in the withdraw number ten role just behind Jordan Murray who returned to the team after his injury lay-off.
Hooper was a few inches off-side when he finished off a brilliant attacking move.
Just moments later, he unleashed a fearsome shot from 30 yards out which thundered against the underside of the crossbar. The replays showed that the ball had bounced inside before coming and they were unlucky not to take the lead.
Jamshedpur were clearly missing their influential captain Peter Hartley and Blaster kept terrorising their defence. Murray came close on a few occasions and Puitea hit the crossbar from just four to five yards out after Murray's initial header was saved by Rehenesh.
With better luck, Blasters could have scored two or three goals in that half but Jamshedpur managed to hold on till half-time.
In the second half, the Red Miners managed to regroup and negated the threat of the Blasters to some extent.
However, as the half wore on, the pattern of play was evident with Blasters doing all the attacking. The Jamshedpur defence was finding Murray to be a handful and he came close on a few occasions as Blasters kept pushing men forward but the ball just wouldn't go into the net, much to the frustration of their suspended head coach Kibu Vicuna who looked on from the stands with heads in his hands.