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Bengaluru FC rallied from being two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw against Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Sree Kanterava Stadium on Wednesday.
The hosts Bengaluru FC found themselves trailing early in the game as coach Carles Cuadrat's strategy of playing Kean Lewis backfired.
Slavisa Stojanovic converted from the spot for Blasters and Courage Pekuson doubled the lead five minutes before the break for Blasters.
Trailing by two goals, Cuadrat immediately changed his strategy at half time and got BFC back in the game with key substitutions.
Miku, Xisco Fernandez and Rahul Bheke all played vital roles in securing the draw for Bengaluru FC in front of 13,572 fans.
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First, Sunil Chhetri, with Miku playing a dummy, set up Udanta Singh's tap-in. Soon after, Chhetri himself headed in from an Udanta cross to secure the point for BFC.
Here are the hits and flops from the game:
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Flop - Kean Lewis (Bengaluru FC)
Kean Lewis, who is actually a winger, was strangely fielded as a right-back in this game. Lewis found it hard to adjust to the new role and was often confused whether to stay behind and defend or help out Udanta Singh in the attack.
Even if he was playing as a wing-back, he maintained a line way behind the other full-back Nishu Kumar. He showed early on itself that he was struggling.
And then he made a mess of a routine clearance to concede a penalty in the 15th minute. Mohamad Rakip had unleashed pace on the right flank and cut back from the touchline.
Lewis had no pressure and instead of whipping away the ball, he dragged it into his body and played it out with his hand.
Referee Tejas Nagvenkar pointed to the spot and Slavisa Stojanovic put Kerala Blasters ahead.
Soon after the goal, coach Carles Cuadrat shifted Lewis into the central midfielder role with Harmanjot Khabra moving back as an RB.
Lewis' confidence seemed to have taken a hit because he fumbled initially with the ball and gave away the possession easily.
He created only a couple of chances in the first half as a midfielder and when BFC were down 2-0, he was taken off before the start of the second half.
An error in judgment on part of Carles Cuadrat to field him as a defender.
Hit - Sandesh Jhingan (Kerala Blasters)
Sandesh Jhingan turned in the best shift possible as the central defender and captain of Kerala Blasters. He got his tackles right in the first half and did not shy away from making those dangerous challenges.
He collided with Gurpreet Singh around the 30th minute and had to receive treatment for a cut on the forehead. He was back with a yellow bandage and was only determined to better his game after that.
When tempers flared between Seiminlen Doungel and Dimas Delgado in the 53rd minute, it was Jhingan who prevented further damage on his team by asking Doungel to calm down. Doungel received a booking for picking up a fight but was ready to rumble and risked getting sent off.
Jhingan himself was elbowed by Xisco Fernandez and made his intentions clear to the BFC midfielder. He resorted to a bit of theatrics when the referee Tejas Nagvenkar asked him to go out and receive treatment. Despite the draw, Jhingan had a great game overall.
Hit - Courage Pekuson (Kerala Blasters)
He hasn't played much this season but Courage Pekuson will be remembered for this performance for a long time by the Kerala Blasters' fans, Manjappada.
The early goal by Slavisa Stojanovic shifted the momentum of the game towards Blasters and Pekuson only helped them carry a two-goal cushion into the break.
And his goal, five minutes before the break, gave Blasters that extra confidence and secure their first draw with Bengaluru FC.
You could say Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, the Bengaluru FC goalkeeper, was at fault for not even attempting to save the shot. But it was that kinda spectacular effort by Pekuson, which even gave a goalkeeper like Gurpreet second thoughts about stretching out for the save.
Seiminlen Doungel found it difficult to barge into the box in the 40th minute. He passed it to Pekuson, who was free outside the box. No BFC defender closed in on him and Pekuson had space. He decided to go for it.
Pekuson's attempt curled in and Gurpreet thought it was off target. But it flowed into the top-right corner and gave Blasters' fans plenty to rejoice about.
Pekuson was substituted in the second half for an extra player in the defence - Cyril Kali.
Hit - Sunil Chhetri (Bengaluru FC)
Bengaluru FC's Sunil Chhetri had scored five goals before this match and is the highest Indian goalscorer.
However, all those five goals came before November 22 and he hadn't scored since the FC Goa 2-1 victory in November.
The absence of Miku in the line-up was the main reason for Chhetri's goal drought but the Venezuelan striker returned to the squad for the game against Blasters.
Chhetri had a couple of chances to snap that barren run but he was unable to.
The first half barely saw any chances going BFC's favour but the introduction of Xisco Fernandez in the second half gave Chhetri some work to do.
In the 51st minute, a wonderful cross by Udanta was headed above by Chhetri. Four minutes later, Dimas Delgado played him from the right but Chhetri hit the shot first time, straight at Kerala goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh.
All this was before Miku's introduction.
Once Miku was brought on, Chhetri could comfortably play his role. He even contributed to BFC's first goal by heading down a lobbed ball by Erik Paartalu for Miku and Udanta.
In the 76th minute, Chhetri played a similar pass for Xisco but the midfielder attempt drifted inches wide.
Yet, up to the hour mark, Chhetri was a letdown.
Chhetri redeemed for the misses and you could sense a goal was around the corner in the last 10 minutes of the game.
BFC kept playing crosses from the right and Chhetri was at the far post either heading it down or going for goal. In the 85th minute, a chipped ball from the right by Udanta saw Chhetri rise above his marker Mohamad Rakip and slot it in.
Flop - Albert Serran (Bengaluru FC)
It wasn't one of the best days for the Bengaluru FC defender. Matej Poplatnik of Kerala Blasters easily outran Serran many times in the game and that entire sense of confidence was missing from Serran in this game.
Serran was sometimes unable to judge the through-ball and Sahal Abdul Samad took advantage of that to play some tantalising passes to Poplatnik.
The Blasters' forward couldn't really control the passes to the best of his ability but he showed that Serran could be brushed aside with pace and control.
It was no surprise that Carles Cuadrat substituted Serran, who was on a yellow card, with Miku in the second half. Cuadrat was confident his side could play with two central defenders Juanan Gonzalez and Rahul Bheke.
