Kerala Blasters fought back from two goals down to draw 3-3 against Chennaiyin FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Wednesday. Jordan Murray and Dimitrios Diamantakos scored twice for either side in a game that was end-to-end from beginning to end.
Chennaiyin took the lead in the very first minute, as Rafael Crivellaro's free-kick seemed to take a touch off Rahim Ali before nestling in Sachin Suresh's net. But the Blasters didn't take long to get back on level terms, as Kwame Peprah drew a foul from Ajith Kumar that gave Diamantakos the opportunity from the penalty spot, and he made no mistake, sending Debjit Majumder the wrong way.
If Blasters fans thought that goal would spring their team back to life, they were in for a rude shock, as Chennaiyin won a penalty of their own two minutes later, for a oful by Naocha Singh on Crivellaro. Murray stepped up and planted the ball into the side-netting, even as Sachin dived the right way.
Chennaiyin doubled their midway through the first half, as the Blasters were caught horribly open in defence, and Rahim slipped in a pass to Murray and the Australian made no mistake in slotting it past Sachin.
The Blasters halved the deficit before the interval, thanks to Kwame Peprah's first-ever ISL goal, as he repaid Ivan Vukomanovic's faith in him despite no attacking returns in seven previous games this season. Adrian Luna scuffed a shot, but it landed to Peprah, who took one touch before firing it past Debjit who had no chance.
Just 15 minutes after the break, the Blasters were back on terms, thanks to a sensational long-range effort from Diamantakos, who took a Danish Farooq pass in his stride, before belting one to Debjit's left and into the top corner.
Both sides had chances to win it at the end, as Farukh Choudhary couldn't generate enough power on a header from close range, and then Daisuke Sakai missed a glaring opportunity with an open goal gaping from a yard out.
The Blasters go top of the ISL for now, but they're just a point ahead of FC Goa having played two games more than them, before the two sides meet at Fatorda this weekend.
You relive the match as it happened in our minute-by-minute commentary below.
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