ISL: Pune City FC 1-2 Kerala Blasters FC – 5 talking points

Kerala Blasters registered their first ever win in the inaugural edition of the Hero Indian Super League after edging past Pune City at their home with a score line 2-1. Former French International and marquee player David Trezeguet found the net for the home side, while CS Sabeeth and Penn Orji found the net for the away side in a match that saw Blasters dominating their opposition in a tight encounter held atthe Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune.Here we look at the five talking points of the match:

#1 Early bookings made for a tight first half

Both the home and the away side made it into the referee’s book immediately after the game started. The two yellow cards came just within 5 minutes from the start of the game. Blasters full back Nirmal Chettri was the first to get into the books after a hard challenge on Pune’s John Goossens in the middle of the park. A similar challenge resulted in another booking, this time from the opposition, after Tapan Maity of Pune brought down an attacking Pedro Gusmao up front.

This resulted in very high tension in the early stages of the game as both sides were very cautious. Another card came late in the first half when Blasters defender Sandesh Jhingan brought down Pune’s Ashutosh Mehta in a very tightly contested first half which ended on level terms.