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Super-sub Milagres Gonsalves hands Kerala Blasters a win at home

Kerala Blasters FC v FC Goa

Kerala Blasters FC v FC Goa

Kerala Blasters FC welcomed FC Goa in their very first Hero Indian Super League (ISL) home game at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi today.

The game in front of an almost capacity crowd turned out to be a entertaining affair with the hosts having more chances in the first half. But FC Goa came back strongly in the second half as both sides were locked goalless at the break.

But it was the hosts who took the lead as substitute Milagres Gonsalves found the back of the net in the 64th minute. Milagres was perfectly set-up by fellow-substitute Andrew Barisic and the Indian striker tapped in the ball while the stadium errupted.

Kerala Blasters FC could have scored a second goal, but Sushanth Mathew failed to get a final touch on a perfect cross by Milagres.

The home side defended well in the final minutes to secure a 1-0 win in their first match at home.

2014 Hero Indian Super League
at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi

KERALA BLASTER FC 1-0 FC GOA

GOALS
1-0 Milagres Gonsalves (64′)

LINE-UPS

FC Goa

Kerala Blasters FC
70 David James – 15 Sandesh Jhingan, 32 Colin Falvey, 2 Cedric Hengbart, 29 Saumik Dey – 23 Avinabo Bag, 22 Raphaël Romey (58′ 27 Andrew Barisic), 25 Stephen Pearson, 11 Ishfaq Ahmed (81′ 7 Sushanth Mathew) – 18 Penn Ikechukwu Orji [C] – 12 CS Sabeeth (56′ 88 Milagres Gonsalves)

Unused Subs
24 Sandip Nandy, 30 Luis Xavier Barreto – 3 Jamie McAllister, 4 Ramandeep Singh, 5 Nirmal Chettri, 9 Pedro Gusmao, 21 Godwin Franco, 44 Erwin Spitzner

FC Goa
1 Jan Šeda – 2 Debabrata Roy, 15 Grégory Arnolin, 3 Narayan Das, 5 Youness Bengelloun – 19 Romeo Fernandes, 16 Bruno Pinheiro, 23 Jewel Raja Shaikh (76′ 4 Rowilson Rodrigues), 17 Mandar Rao Desai (68′ 24 Clifford Miranda) – 7 Robert Pirès [C] (72′ 26 Tolgay Ozbey) – 20 Miroslav Slepička

Unused Subs
13 Gurpreet Chabal, 21 Laxmikant Kattimani – 8 Alwyn George, 9 Miguel Herlein, 11 Holicharan Narzary, 12 Bikramjit Singh, 22 Prabir Das, 25 Ranti Martins Soleye

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee

Assistant Referees
…, …

Fourth Official

BOOKINGS

Yellow Cards
52′ Sandesh Jhingan (Kerala Blasters FC)
88′ Penn Ikechukwu Orji (Kerala Blasters FC)

Yellow-Red Cards
none

Red Cards
none

MAN OF THE MATCH