Kochi: A maiden home win continued to elude Kerala Blasters FC as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Jamshedpur FC in an Indian Super League encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here Tuesday.
Carlos Calvo put Jamshedpur ahead from the spot in the 66th minute before Seiminlen Doungel’s equaliser in the 77th minute ensured the spoils were shared. Both coaches made three changes each to their line-ups, with David James reinstating Slavisa Stojanovic in the starting 11 after he recovered in time from an injury while Cesar Ferrando handed Tim Cahill a start up front.
Stojanovic should have done better in the seventh minute after receiving an excellent through ball from Sahal Samad, but the Serbian blasted his effort wide. The visitor was dealt an early blow, with Michael Soosairaj having to leave the pitch with a hamstring injury. Things could have gone even worse for Jamshedpur minutes later when Mario Arques lost the ball to Keziron Kizito midfield.
The Ugandan midfielder’s surging run saw the ball ultimately fall to Samad with the goal at his mercy. However, the youngster struck the woodwork to give the tourist a huge reprieve.
Kerala’s wastefulness continued with Halicharan Narzary wasting a gilt-edged chance. Jamshedpur would have been glad to go into the interval with the scoreline intact as Kerala was left to rue its inability to finish.
With Kerala struggling to find the finishing touch, James introduced C K Vineeth in the second period.
The host continued to knock on the door while Jamshedpur managed to threaten at the other end through Calvo’s shot which was directed straight to Dheeraj Singh.
The young Kerala custodian gave away a controversial spot-kick moments later, following a quick Jamshedpur breakaway. Calvo fed Cahill through with a brilliantly lobbed ball over the defence before the Aussie was brought down on the edge of the box by Dheeraj. Calvo made no mistake from the spot to fire Jamshedpur ahead as Kerala was made to pay for its profligacy.
Jamshedpur then failed to fully clear a corner and when the ball was pinged back into the box, Doungel overpowered Bikash Jairu to poke the ball past an onrushing Paul.