Half-time report: Spanish forward Ferran Corominas struck twice in the first half to put FC Goa 2-0 forward against Kerala Blasters FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Sunday.
The first goal came in the 11th minute when Goa got a corner that was headed back out of the box. Jahouh received the ball and floated it back into the box from the right hand side with Corominas reaching at the near post and putting on a glancing header that put the ball inside the far post to make it 0-1.
After the first goal, Goa continued to pile pressure on the home team who had a hard time getting out of their own half and relied heavily on counter-attacks to get forward. Goa were comfortable building from the back and were generally patient with their build up even though the first goal came off a set-piece and the other, in the extra-time, came through a counter-attack.
The second came in the last minute of the first half when Corominas carried the ball forward in a counter-attack with two of his teammates on either side. He ran through the middle and opened up space for himself, cut in a little bit to get on his favourite right foot and struck the ball at the bottom left corner to make it 2-0 in Goa's favour.
Kerala haven't been great going forward although they did have a great chance to equalise in the 16th minute when Goa got a free-kick that was promptly cleared. Seriton miscued the clearance and the onrushing Narzary was through on goal with a teammate by his side, but before he could either take the shot or lay it off a sliding Seriton tackle saved the day for Goa.
Kerala will need to improve a lot going forward, which isn't going to be easy, especially since Stojanovic has been substituted off. They do have Vineeth on the bench and bringing him on might inject that much needed vitality among the Kerala forwards