ISL | Blasters and Chennaiyin desperately searching for first win of the season

Between them, they have one point. It has been a terrible start to the ISL campaign for both Kerala Blasters and Chennaiyin FC.

Both the southern sides will be desperate to score a maiden win of the season when they face off at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday. While the host has lost all its three matches, the visiting side has managed a draw at least, against Odisha FC in the last game; after the defeats to Mumbai City and Mohun Bagan Super Giant, that was an improvement.

The Kochi men, after losing to Bagan, Mumbai and Inter Kashi, have, of course, more reasons to be worried in this truncated version of the ISL. They need to start winning, and then they need to keep winning.

For that, they need to score goals. They had to wait till the dying minutes of their third match to net the season’s first goal.

That game against Kashi, played before a small crowd here last week, showcased Blasters’ poor finishing skills. Coach David Catala, however, is confident the goals will come.

“The most important thing right now is that we need to be very strong in defence and we are trying to improve,” he said. “We have to be better in that aspect and to be more compact. And after all that, I am sure that the goals will arrive for us.”

He admitted there was a bit of negativity in the air. “But that is normal,” he said. “We have to fight.”