Kerala Blasters FC 3-1 Jamshedpur FC: Tuskers comfortably beat Red Miners to move to third place in ISL 2022-23 standings

Kerala Blasters FC continued their march towards the ISL 2022-23 playoffs with a 3-1 win over Jamshedpur FC in Kochi on Tuesday, January 3.

The Tuskers, who entered this game on a seven-match unbeaten run, were quick to impose their will on the contest. Within the first six minutes, they had forced two corners, one off a deflection from Sahal Abdul Samad's shot on target and then from some fantastic link-up play.

The Red Miners simply couldn't react and paid the penalty in the ninth minute of the game. Kerala Blasters attacked the left flank, a recurring theme throughout the match, to find Dimitris Diamantakos in space. The Australian took his time before firing a cross towards Apostolos Giannou.

Giannou came up with an ingenious backheel flick to guide the ball past Vishal Yadav in the Jamshedpur goal and give his side the lead.

The forward almost returned the favor four minutes later with a neat flicked pass from Adrian Luna's clipped ball into the box. However, Diamantakos' header flew over the bar.

Against the run of play, the visitors responded with a somewhat fortuitous goal. Rafael Crivellaro slipped in Ishan Pandita from a rare Jamshedpur attack. Pandita, who looked offside, took a poor first touch, allowing Prabhsukhan Gill to smother the ball.

However, Gill couldn't collect it cleanly and it came out to Daniel Chukwu, who chipped it over the goalkeeper and two defenders to make it 1-1. Marko Leskovic did get a touch on the shot on the line, but couldn't stop it from going in.

From nowhere, the Red Miners were level. However, they struggled to build on that as Kerala Blasters continued to push forward in numbers. This eventually yielded a second chance for the Tuskers to go ahead.

Another attack down the left saw Jessel Carneiro whip a ball in from close to the by-line. The cross struck Boris Singh's hand as he tried to turn his body away inside the box, resulting in a penalty. Diamantakos stepped up and sent Yadav the wrong way to put the hosts back in front to loud cheers from the crowd.

The Jamshedpur keeper was called into action once again just three minutes later as he made a good save to keep out Sahal's near-post effort. Giannou then put a shot wide from Sahal's ball in from the left.

The Red Miners ended the half with a chance of their own as Crivellaro once again found Pandita in space in the box. Rather than striking it first time, the forward took it wide and crossed it into the area. Gill palmed it out and it fell to Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, who scuffed his shot wide.

That closed an entertaining first half as the teams went into the break with Jamshedpur barely holding on and the Kerala Blasters holding a 2-1 lead.

---

Adrian Luna's stunner gives Kerala Blasters all three points against Jamshedpur FC

Jamshedpur FC began the second half in much better fashion than they did the first, receiving a chance inside the opening 60 seconds.

A cross from left-back Ricky Lallawmawma was superbly collected on the turn by Ishan Pandita to get beyond Kerala Blasters FC's defense. However, with only Prabhsukhan Gill to beat, Pandita scuffed his shot wide of the far post.

The Tuskers slowly upped the ante, but got their first real chance of the second half only on the hour-mark. Adrian Luna's corner was only half-cleared, allowing Marko Leskovic to lay the ball off for Sandeep Singh on the edge of the area.

The full-back fired a venomous half-volley towards goal, but Vishal Yadav did superbly to tip it over the crossbar for a corner.

Five minutes later, Kerala Blasters went 3-1 up in spectacular fashion to effectively seal the contest.

Luna picked up the ball close to the halfway line from a Jamshedpur clearance and charged forward. The Uruguayan passed it to Sahal Abdul Samad on the edge of the area and received it back via a first-touch pass.

Luna then found Dimitris Diamantakos, who backheeled the ball first-time to Apostolos Giannou. Giannou did the same to find Luna, who had continued his run, and he slammed the ball home with a first-time finish to round off a sumptuous team move.

While Kochi roared and the Kerala Blasters were off celebrating, Jamshedpur could only wonder what had just happened in a matter of seconds. A goal of pure genius put the hosts on their way to three more points.

Both teams didn't create too many clear-cut opportunities from there on as the Tuskers saw out the victory with relative ease. They now sit third in the ISL 2022-23 standings with 25 points from 12 matches, just three behind second-placed Hyderabad FC.

Jamshedpur, meanwhile, remain 10th with just five points from 12 matches and with their playoff hopes effectively at zero.