Kwame Peprah lights up Kochi

22/09/2024 : Kochi : Kerala : Kerala Blasters Kwame Peprah (14, left) who scored the winning goal against East Bengal F C celebrates during an ISL match in Kochi on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: Thulasi Kakkat

Kwame Peprah had been injured for a good part of last season and even during his stay on the field he had been living in Dimitrios Diamantakos’ shadow. On Sunday the young Ghanaian stole the thunder from Diamantakos, the ISL top scorer last season, as he scored a late match-winner that gave the Kerala Blasters a 2-1 victory over East Bengal FC at the Nehru Stadium here.

Peprah had come in just 13 minutes earlier replacing the team’s star forward Jesus Nunez. The victory was the Blasters first this season and the winning goal came rather dramatically. K.P Rahul sent a cross from the left and Anwar Ali appeared ready to kick away the danger but Aimen stole it with a smart slide and sent it to Peprah who fired it home with a left-footer.

P.V. Vishnu, a 22-year-old from Kasargod, had given EBFC the lead in the 59^th minute and Noah Sadaoui, the recent Durand Cup’s Golden Boot winner, had netted the Blasters equaliser earlier.

After the dismal season-opener against Punjab FC, the Blasters coach Stahre had spoken about putting a lot of players higher up and that saw a lively match this evening.

And despite having two men guarding him, Diamantakos looked dangerous. He ran into the box in the 59^th minute and foxed the Blasters goalkeeper Sachin Suresh with a smart cross to his right which Vishnu tapped in neatly.

But Sadaoui was quick to level the scores, racing in from the left, dodging a defender and scoring with a nice shot to the far corner.

The result: Kerala Blasters FC 2 (Noah Sadaoui 63, Kwame Peprah 88) bt East Bengal FC 1 (P.V. Vishnu 59).