Press Trust of India
Pune, Oct 27: Former Turkish international Tuncay Sanli continued his good form as his powerful header in the 72nd minute enabled FC Pune City register a thrilling 3-2 victory over Kerala Blasters in an ISL-II game here Tuesday.
For the winners, the other two goals were scored by Nigerian striker Kalu Uche in the 16th and 23rd minute while Mohammed Rafi struck for the losing side in the first and 30th minutes.
The win took David Platt-coached Pune City past Chennaiyin FC as they are now on top of the eight-team league table with 12 points from six games with their fourth win. Kerala Blasters are languishing at the bottom of the table with four points from the same number of games.
It was perhaps the most entertaining match in the tournament, where the standard of football has not exactly been great.
The fortunes swung like a pendulum from the very first minute when Kerala striker Rafi scored his third goal of the season just after kick-off in the very first minute. Chris Dagnell essayed a neat cross from the right and Rafi positioned himself to perfection to boot the ball home.
However Kerala’s joy was shortlived when Pune’s Nicky Shorey moved down the left and floated the ball into the opposition box for Uche to score with a powerful header. Seven minutes later, it was Shorey again who did the spadework, weaving past two defenders to find an unmarked Uche who just tapped the ball into the goal for Pune to take a 2-1 lead. But Rafi was again in position to score with a header to keep Kerala in the game as both sides went into the break with the score tied 2-2.
In the second session, both sides had their chances before Sanli sealed the issue.
