Indian Football League | Sreenidi consigns Gokulam to a narrow defeat

John Kennedy started. Dimitris Dimtriou took charge as coach. And another match at home. There were several things going for Gokulam Kerala, but all that didn’t prove enough.

Gokulam lost 0-1 to Sreenidi Deccan in the Indian Football League at the Payyanad Stadium here on Saturday. So, after three matches, the two-time champion is still without a win.

After drawing both its previous matches, Gokulam must have been hoping to get its campaign on track, but it could not quite recover after Fabrice Kah’s goal early in the second half. It was a well-earned victory for the Hyderabad-based team, though.

This was the Deccan men’s second win in three matches and a fine comeback after the 1-2 defeat to Chanmari FC. They defended well, even while putting pressure on the other end. They were led from the front by David Castaneda, who marshalled the attack well.

And it was his assist that paved the way for the goal. After receiving a long throw-in, he beat the defence of Amid Arezou and Kingslee Fernandes before releasing the ball to Kah, who deftly put it past the goalline. Defender Harpreet Singh could have done better perhaps, though.

Gokulam tried hard to equalise, but its best striker Thabiso Brown wasn’t at his sharpest. Neither was Kennedy, the man who had scored a sensational hat-trick on this very ground three months ago, in the Super League Kerala for Malappuram FC against Forca Kochi.

The result: Gokulam Kerala 0 lost to Sreenidi Deccan 1 (Fabrice Kah 54).