Antonio German struck in the penultimate minute before time to help Kerala Blasters FC negate Mumbai City FC's first-half lead and draw the India Super League football game at 1-1 here today.
In the end it seemed a fair result with both the sides having their moments in the game at the D.Y.Patil stadium. If the first half belonged to Mumbai, the second was dominated by the visitors, especially in the later stages.
Kerala's English winger German cancelled out Juan Aguilera's first half goal right at the death to level matters, leaving both the teams searching for two wins in as many games to have a far-away chance of making it to the semi-finals.
The hosts though had the first laugh when Spain's Aguilera blasted the ball into the roof of the net and get an early lead in the 25th minute.
At first Kerala goalkeeper Sandip Nandy did well to parry a shot from Mumbai forward Singam Subash behind for the corner. The resulting set-piece by Sony Norde was heading straight for the goal but Sandip blocked it with a weak punch. The ball landed at just the right height for Aguilera to volley it into the back of the net from inside the box.
The rest of the half also belonged to Mumbai with consistent attacks on the visiting goal.
The half-time score read well for the Nicolas Anelka-coached side, but the visitors came back with a definite plan in the second half.
Bruno Perone came in to replace Mehtab Hossain for the final few minutes of the game and the Brazilian did inspire Kerala to a magic finish.
The final goal in the 89th minute left the home players and the fans stunned as four minutes of extra injury did not serve the purpose for either of the sides.
The result though did little to help the laggards with Kerala staying at the bottom of the eight-team heap, while Mumbai just a place above at the seventh spot.
