Kerala Blasters FC registered their first win of the Indian Super League (ISL) season as they defeated Hyderabad FC by a 2-0 scoreline on Sunday.

The Blasters were winless in six games prior to this match, with three draws and three losses to their name. They were finding it tough to score goals as they had netted only six of them before this match. So, head coach Kibu Vicuna had to make some tough calls ahead of the game.

The I-League winning coach decided to bench their star forward Gary Hooper and decided to play Jordan Murray as the lone striker. He didn’t stop there as he made his overseas defenders, Bakary Kone and Costa Nhamoinesu, sit out as well. Indian youngsters Hakku Nediyodath and Sandeep Singh were handed their first starts of the season in their place.

His decision raised many eyebrows ahead of the match, but it turned out to be a masterstroke by the end of it as both Hakku and Murray found themselves on the scoresheet.

It was Hakku who scored the first goal in the match as he headed a well-taken corner by Facundo Pereyra straight back into the net in the 29th minute. And just when it seemed like it was going to end as a one-goal affair, Murray netted one past Subrata Paul in the 88th minute to bring up the second goal for the Blasters.

Hyderabad FC have looked pretty lively as a team so far but the players somehow looked pretty rusty and out of touch today. They couldn’t create any threatening chance apart from some flashes of individual brilliance from the players from time to time. There were some good one-on-one duels as well and one of those was between Hyderabad FC defender Akash Mishra and Kerala Blasters midfielder Rahul KP. It was the 20-year-old Rahul who had managed to outwit Mishra, but the latter had made some good runs during the game as well.

Kerala Blasters now have six points to their name with this win but are still sitting at the ninth spot in the table. They will need to stitch up a series of wins in order to make steast ascent in the points table.