That's it from this contest but we will meet soon as Mumbai City FC host FC Goa at 1930 IST on Friday. Till then, goodbye!
Awards
The Club Award is given to Delhi Dynamos FC for winning this contest and the Limitless Player of the Match is Gianni Zuiverloon. While the Winning Pass of the Match is awarded to Rene Mihelic, Nandhakumar Sekar is the Emerging Player. And lastly, Lallianzuala Chhangte is the Hero of the Match.
Two wins in a row for DDFC
Delhi Dynamos FC have won this contest. Gianni Zuiverloon presented a goal to DDFC in the 1st half and Rene Mihelic sealed the deal for them in the stoppage time of the second period. They have won this contest and secured all 3 points. We witnessed a lot of action in the game during the second half, of which, most were right in the ending minutes. Kerala Blasters FC had enough chances in both halves but they failed to convert. Their finishing was pretty poor and now they slip to the number 9 spot after going winless for 13 games.
90'
GOOALLL
Rene Mihelic converts the penalty towards bottom left corner of the goal. No chance for Kerala Blasters FC to comeback from here. The final whistle goes off.
90'
Goal-Penalty
Goal-Penalty - Delhi Dynamos FC : Rene Mihelic
90'
Red card and a penalty!
Lalruatthara is penalized for the foul on Chhangte. Ref brings out the red card straightaway. Lallianzuala gets the ball from a bad pass off a Kerala's defender which he was trying to push towards the keeper. He takes a run towards Dheeraj Singh who puts in a dive and Lalruatthara from behind pushes Chhangte. The whistle is blown immediately and a red card is flashed. Rene Mihelic to take the penalty.
90'
Red Card
Red Card - Kerala Blasters FC : Lalruatthara
90'
Added time
Three minutes of added time signaled by the officials.
90'
Yellow Card
Yellow Card - Delhi Dynamos FC : Marcos Tebar
90'
Yellow Card
Yellow Card - Kerala Blasters FC : Nemanja Lakic-Pesic
89'
DDFC bring in fresh legs
Daniel Lalhlimpuia comes in for Ulises Davila. Manager looking to build attack to strengthen their lead in these last few minutes.
89'
Substitution
Substitution - Delhi Dynamos FC (In: Daniel Lalhlimpuia, Out: Ulises Davila)
85'
Subs for Blasters
Keziron Kizito comes in for Slavisa Stojanovic.
85'
Substitution
Substitution - Kerala Blasters FC (In: Keziron Kizito, Out: Slavisa Stojanovic)
82'
Kerala up to something
Poplatnik changes flank and Doungel carries the ball forward in some hope. He crosses it in which makes it to Courage Pekuson who over-powers the shot and shoots it higher.
78'
Injury time
Nemanja Lakic-Pesic is down on the ground. Twists his ankle on landing while clearing a corner.
77'
Substitution
Substitution - Kerala Blasters FC (In: Courage Pekuson, Out: Nikola Krcmarevic)
Nandhakumar Sekar brings in the ball from the right flank and gets past the defender. He shoots the ball up in the air while taking a shot on goal. A poor touch on the ball right after such a good execution of his skill.
71'
A volley
Chhangte gets a ball from the corner off Davila. Lallianzuala fires up a volley from inside of the box but shoots it just wide of the near post. A golden chance for him to increase the lead.
69'
Up and over
Mihelic is given a chance to take the free kick to which he tries to go all by himself and ends up shooting it above the crossbar from the left corner. The angle was quite narrow and he could have opted to send in a cross in the middle of the box.
Substitution - Kerala Blasters FC (In: Suraj Rawat, Out: Prasanth K)
65'
Corner time
Kerala Blasters FC get a corner, Seiminlen Doungel tries to produce something from here but gives his kick too much power and the ball runs behind and goes out of the play. Very poor.
63'
Delhi still on top
Delhi Dynamos FC are still dominating the Blasters. Constant attacking from their end is keeping Kerala under pressure.
55'
Aerial Duel
Lalruatthara and Ulises Davila are in a heading challenge where Lalruatthara pushes Davila from behind and Ulises is down on the pitch in agony.
51'
Handball
Lalruatthara penalized for the handball. He was held by ref to deliberately stop the ball with his hand.
51'
Yellow Card
Yellow Card - Kerala Blasters FC : Lalruatthara
47'
Hits the crossbar
Slavisa Stojanovic takes the free kick. He puts in a curler from the left flank from just outside the box. Nemanja Lakic-Pesic finds himself in a position to convert that one. He runs back and heads it goalwards. Hits the crossbar though and rebounds back towards him but a defender gets in the way and the ball is pushed out of danger.
46'
2nd half underway
Kerala Blasters FC set the ball rolling for the second half.
A half dominated by Delhi Dynamos
A beautiful first half played between these two sides. Delhi looked to dominate it right from the beginning. The Blasters had a few chances to their mouth as well but they were not able to convert any. The Dynamos got their goal from Gianni Zuiverloon's foot in the 29th minute and a goal well-deserved one would say. Kerala had a chance at the fag end but the kick of Sandesh Jhingan got blocked in the stoppage time. The visitors will have to work harder from here to bring up something in the next half.
45'
Nearly 1-1
Cyril Kali to take the free-kick. He puts in a curler in the box and finds Jhingan unmarked. Sandesh though takes a lot of time and ends up shooting it on the defender. Narayan Das was standing like a wall to save the day for Delhi Dynamos otherwise it would have surely met the netting.
45'
Added time
One more minute added to this half.
41'
Off Target
Chhangte again traps a cross on the right flank and dribbles the ball before pushing it to Marcos Tebar. The Spaniard takes his time and attempts to curl it in at the right post. He though misses the target by a fair margin. A wonderful effort by the lad nonetheless.
36'
So close
Lallianzuala Chhangte puts in a cross in the box, right in the front of the keeper. But there was no friends there. Nandhakumar though regains the possession of the ball and cuts Lalruatthara and again crosses in the box but it's cleared off by the defender.
29'
GOAL!!!
Gianni Zuiverloon, the defender, who writes his name down for that goal. Rene Mihelic puts in a delightful ball in the box from the corner to which Zuiverloon jumps and kicks it towards the goal. Keeper was a bit wide, he though gets a touch but fails to keep it out. Delhi Dynamos FC are now 1 goal ahead with this one.
29'
Goal
Goal - Delhi Dynamos FC : Gianni Zuiverloon
26'
Skill-show
Lallianzuala Chhangte displays a beautiful set of skills. He successfully beats the defender and passes it to Bikramjit Singh inside the box to which he tries to cross to Rene Mihelic from between two Blasters' defenders but Rene traps that one off his hand. Ref stops the play and a free kick is given to Kerala Blasters FC.
21'
Counter-attack
Delhi Dynamos get the ball from Kerala's corner and builds up a quick counter. Shubham Sarangi gets a chance from the centre to fire it on target but he didn't put much power behind it. The keeper catches it.
16'
Hovering with the ball
Both teams keep equal possession of the ball and neither of them has yet created a good chance. Looks like anybody's game as of now.
11'
Chances created
Nikola Krcmarevic pushes a ball to Slavisa Stojanovic along the left side. Slavisa carries it in the box and tries to pass towards Seiminlen Doungel but the latter fails to get there in time. Francisco Dorronsoro grabs it in the end.
7'
Foul
Lalruatthara stops Nandhakumar Sekar in the way as he tries to get in the attacking position from the right flank. Resulted in a free-kick in a dangerous position.
3'
First shot on target
Ulises Davila takes his first shot on target but it's comfortably saved by Dheeraj Singh.
1'
Positive start
Lallianzuala Chhangte runs in with the ball inside the opposition's penalty box, releases his kick but it catches Cyril Kali near the pelvic region. He goes down in pain and the physio is called.
1'
Kick off
Let's football.
Toss
Kerala Blasters FC have won the toss and decided to run from right to left in the 1st half.
National Anthem
All players and the officials are out in the middle for the national anthem.
Kerala Blasters FC - Playing XI
Dheeraj Singh (GK), Nemanja Lakic-Pesic, Nikola Krcmarevic, Cyril Kali, Slavisa Stojanovic, Seiminlen Doungel, Matej Poplatnik, Prasanth K, Sahal Abdul Samad, Sandesh Jhingan (C), Lalruatthara.
Match 65 of this edition's ISL will be played between Delhi Dynamos FC and Kerala Blasters FC. Both teams are lying flat at the bottom of the points table, only ahead of Chennaiyin FC. It's been an unfortunate season for them. Kerala tasted success in their first game but failed to get three points from any encounter after that. Delhi's only win though came just before the winter break when they thumped Chennaiyin. The team from the capital city will be hopeful of building on that while the visitors' search for another win will continue here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. These two sides are virtually out of the contention for a playoff spot but would like to avoid finishing last. Historically, Kerala hold a 5-2 advantage over Delhi in the H2H battle but it's hard to guess the favourite for this contest on current form. Let's hope to have a great evening of entertaining football.