Wasteful Hyderabad FC concede last game of the season to Kerala Blasters at home | ISL 2023-24
Kerala Blasters beat Hyderabad FC 3-1 in gameweek 22 of the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Maidaan in Gachibowli on April 12, Friday. With this result, the 2021-22 champions finish right at the bottom of the league table with a mere nine points inside their kitty.
This will go down as officially Hyderabad's worst season ever in the top flight of Indian football, surpassing the ten points they had bagged in their inaugural ISL campaign in 2019-20.
Hyderabad had five Malayalis in their starting lineup, and this was just about all the proof that Indian football needed of Kerala's dominance.
The Blasters struck in the first half thanks to Mohammed Aimen's scorching header when he rose over Hyderabad's defenders to meet a good cross from Saurav Mandal plying his trade in midfield.
The two teams went into the break at 0-1 and the visitors sounded the death knell to their opponents when Daisuke Sakai found a loose ball missed by center-half Alex Saji and tapped it into the empty net in the 51st minute. This was Mandal's second assist of the game.
Substitute Nihal Sudeesh bagged the third for the Tuskers and put the game to bed in the 82nd minute after clutching into a loose ball in midfield and evading Hyderabad's lunging defenders.
Club captain Joao Victor - in what may possibly have been his last appearance - grabbed the sole goal for the hosts when he sent in a brilliant volley from just outside the box in the 89th minute thanks to a headed pass from Alex Saji.
The Nawabs had come excruciatingly close to pulling one back earlier in the game when Joseph Sunny set Makan Chothe up across a lonely Lara Sharma in Kerala's goal in the 64th minute but the Manipuri missed it by inches.
Hyderabad took 15 shots in total but scored just one goal
![Kerala Blasters' Mohammed Aimen and Hyderabad's Abdul Rabeeh in action on Friday. [ISL]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/04/43b82-17129376345453-1920.jpg?w=500)
Hyderabad seemed to be wasteful all game, with Abdul Rabeeh running down the right wing in the first half but failing to find a final product on his hands - or rather his feet.
Chothe, despite being the best attacker on display for the Yellow and Black, will rue the chances he missed on the night although he switched flanks on more than one occasion.
Ramhlunchhunga, on whom the entire city's hopes have rested ever since the infamous exodus of first-team players in the winter transfer window, seemed second best in most of the challenges that came his way.
Young Joseph, who is playing his first season of top-flight football, needs more time to groom although his creation of balls in the final third rarely left anything to be desired.
Hyderabad's right flank looked exposed yet again - as it was against Mumbai City and FC Goa - and that is an area that they will be keen on improving upon in the off-season.
The Blasters will finish the season in the fifth position of the table with 33 points to their name and go into the ISL playoffs with a lot of renewed confidence - this being their first win in six matches.
For Hyderabad, this was a season to forget, and one that their players, staff, and owners be keen on getting out of their systems as soon as possible.