ISL 3: Michael Chopra hands Blasters maiden win

Michael Chopra of Kerala Blasters (left) in action against Mumbai City FC in their ISL 3 match at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Friday. The hosts won 1-0.

A local legend has it that the Hornbill thirsting for rain brings the monsoon. It is a metaphor often associated with Kerala and the spectacularly-long-beaked avian, is also the state bird.

It was no less than a ‘Hornbill story’ scripted at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here as the Kerala Blasters ended a painful goal drought and registered their first win of the season, against an unsettled Mumbai City, on Friday.

And none perhaps deserved the winner, more than England-born Michael Chopra. The former Newcastle United striker with Indian ancestry, who had returned to Kerala to make amends for a lacklustre first year in the ISL, scored in a 1-0 win, in the 58th minute.

The decisive strike moved Kerala up a place up in the table, to sixth, with four points while it also stripped Mumbai of their invincible tag.

There was a dip in attendance at the venue as the numbers fell from 55,000 in the two previous rounds, to just over 40,000. But it made little difference in the stands as they rose in unison to Chopra when he was substituted out in the 80th minute, having justified Steve Coppell’s decision to start him after a tiring 90-minute shift on Sunday.

The goal had a slice of fortune as Kervens Belfort, who impressively held on to the ball at the edge of the area, turned to shoot from the edge of the box.

He scuffed the shot but it effected a pass that beat Mumbai’s off-side trap and served up kindly for Chopra, who couldn’t miss from six yards.

Earlier, as 30 minutes went by with the scoreboard unmoved, Kerala had crossed an infamous milestone of not scoring for 300 minutes from the start of a season.

That was despite their urgency to break the duck, with a very direct approach. Crosses were flung in from full-backs Josu and Sandesh Jhingan, aimed at Mohammed Rafi, while Chopra and Belfort engaged the Mumbai centre-backs.

Rafi, desperate to prove a point after being dropped for two matches, glanced a header tamely on target in the first minute and slashed hard and wide moments later. Belfort had the tricks and Mehtab Hossain made timely tackles, but Kerala clearly lacked the cutting edge as they tried in vain to appease their unyielding home support.