ISL 2020-21: Kibu Vicuna hails character of Kerala Blasters' boys following win over Jamshedpur FC

By Team Newsable | First Published Jan 11, 2021, 6:58 AM IST

Kerala Blasters is currently placed in the 10th spot of the Indian Super League 2020-21 table. As for Jamshedpur FC, it is ranked fifth in the table, for now. Both the teams are yet to win the title to date, while Blasters has been playing the tournament since 2014.

Kerala Blasters came up with a splendid performance to edge past Jamshedpur FC in the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL), at the GMC Stadium in Goa on Sunday. The win has placed the Blasters in the 10th spot, while Jamshedpur remains on fifth.

Costa Nhamoinesu handed Blasters the lead in the 22nd minute, while Nerijus Valskis levelled it in the 36th. Nonetheless, Jordan Murray scored a couple consecutively in 79th and 82nd. Although Valskis scored the second for Jamshedpur at 84th, it could not get the third, as the Blasters stole one under the former's nose, despite a red card for Lalruatthara.

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Following the game, Kerala head coach, Kibu Vicuna hailed the character of his boys, as he said, "I am very happy with the result. It was a very difficult game for us. We played 20 minutes with one man less and we saw character from the player. I am very happy for the supporters and the players."

"We have different possibilities. Tonight we thought that it was the best line up we can show with Gary and Jordan up front and two lines of 4. It was a good result. We will see if we can use the same players and formation in the next game," he added.

On being asked if he feels any kind of pressure, he reckoned, "You know that all coaches have pressure. I did not feel any special pressure. What I felt is sadness because we lost against Odisha and we played a bad game. After the game, we were concentrated only on preparing for this game."

He was also wary of the upcoming tough clash against SC East Bengal, as he considered, "SC East Bengal, in the last matches, are getting better results than the beginning. They have also different players, so it's going to be a different game from the first game we played a few weeks ago. It's a good team and we are going to analyse properly and prepare to the best of our abilities as always."

ALSO READ: Jordan Murray's brace allows Kerala Blasters FC to edge past Jamshedpur FC

Meanwhile, Jamshedpur manager, Owen Coyle vented his frustration, as he said, "I am angry, frustrates and disappointed. I thought we started well. I told the boys we cannot gift the goals we did tonight. Kerala Blasters has wonderful players and when you gift the such chances....they were down to 10 men and got two goals and fought and scratched for every point and we got to give them credit. We need to get a lot better. The goals we gave away were due to individual errors and that's not like us. We have to pick ourselves up and get going again."

"It's not somewhere we have not been before. We lost the first game. FC Goa is next, our next opponent and we will get ready for that, we will analyse and work on it. We need to pick ourselves up, understand our mistakes and learn from it, that's what we need to do. There were bits of the game that was good, but there were also bits that we need to improve on," he added.

Blasters' goal-scorer, Murray was delighted with the result, as he reckoned, "What a game! I got to give credit to the team. We are down to 10 men and did well to win the match. Getting the three points was the main thing. I don't think the game was completely pretty, but we will take the three points now. I got two poachers goals and could have had another two in the first half. As a striker, you have to be in those positions and I was lucky to be there. [Top four chances] That's always on the back of our mind. But we will take it game by game. These three points will give us a lot of confidence team."

Nonetheless, Valskis was disappointed with the same, as he recalled, "We are disappointed today because we lost three pts. We gave them a Christmas gift by conceding those three cheap goals. It cost us the three points. It was difficult to start playing after this long period. For us, today was bad luck. We had lots of chances and hit the post three times. We gave them cheap goals and when you concede three goals like that, you cannot win."

"You need to adapt to the players you have in your team. Yeah, I want to play a different style, but I cannot be everywhere on the pitch. Sometimes I am very frustrated on the pitch, but I always want my self to be correct in each moment and that's what I expect from all the players as well," he concluded.

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