Ratings: Dimitrios' brace against NorthEast United guides Kerala Blasters to their fifth consecutive home win

The striker is now just one goal away from claiming the top goal-scorer position.

Kerala Blasters have defeated NorthEast United, and have claimed their ninth win of the season. Ivan Vukomanovic’s men put out a great performance throughout the 90 minutes and didn’t give NorthEast any chance to scare them. With this win, Kerala are now third in the group and has further cemented its position in the top six.

Here are the player ratings from the game.

Kerala Blasters FC (By Tarkesh Jha)

Karanjit Singh - 5

Kerala Blasters' Karanjit faced a solitary shot on target as most of NorthEast United’s attempts at goal were wayward.

Harmanjot Khabra - 5.5

Khabra tackled and intercepted once whilst crossing twice. He was taken off after 61 minutes.

Ruivah Hormipan - 6.5

Hormipan delivered a solid performance at the back - recording a 94 per cent passing accuracy, two successful tackles and four clearances.

Victor Mongil - 6

Mongil completed 91 of his passes and made a tackle, interception and block each to secure a clean sheet for his side.

Jessel Carneiro - 5.5

The left-back created two goal-scoring opportunities in addition to making a tackle and clearance each. 

Jeakson Singh - 6.5

Jeakson made two successful tackles, one clearance and helped Kerala assert dominance at the centre of the park with a 96 per cent passing accuracy.

Adrian Luna - 7

Luna notched an assist, created two goal-scoring chances and made four tackles to round off an all-round midfield performance. 

Bryce Miranda - 7.5

Miranda created four goal-scoring opportunities, put in six crosses and also bagged an assist in the 61 minutes he stayed on the field.

Rahul KP - 6.5

Rahul was a constant threat in the front, hitting two shots on target and also creating two goal-scoring chances.

Apostolos Giannou - 5.5 

Giannou created four chances for his teammate to bag a goal but none of his three shots landed on target. 

Dimitrios Diamantakos - 8

The Greek forward bagged a brace within two minutes towards the end of first-half to seal the victory for Kerala. He took six shots on target to culminate a thoroughly comprehensive attacking performance.

Substitutes:

Nishu Kumar - 5.5

Nishu crossed once but didn’t make any notable defensive contributions.

Sahal Abdul Samad - 6

Sahal shot twice and created one goal-scoring chance in his 29-minute-long substitute appearance. 

Ayush Adhikari - 5

Adhikari made one tackle but he was primarily brought on to add steel to to the setup as the Blasters looked to avoid any late slip-ups.

Ivan Kaliuzhnyi - N.A.

Vibin Mohanan - N.A.

NorthEast United FC (by Keshava Verma)

Arindam Bhattacharya – 7

Despite conceding two goals, Arindam was pretty solid in between the sticks, and denied Kerala a number of opportunities with his potent goalkeeping abilities. The veteran made a total of seven saves.

Alex Saji – 6.5

Saji was poor in the build-up that led to Kerala’s first goal, and his lack of concentration costed his team dearly. Other than that, the player made three clearances and two tackles.

Gaurav Bora - 6

Gaurav had a really bad game. The defender was poor in both the Kerala Blasters goals that NorthEast United conceded, and was pretty sluggish with his defending.

Aaron Evans - 6

Evans made some incredible blocks, and had a total of four clearances to his name. The Aussie, was however below par in conceding NorthEast’s first goal.

Gurjinder Kumar – 5.5

Gurjinder had one of his worst nights donning the Northeastern colours. The Left back was constantly exploited by the likes of Rahul KP and Giannou, and had no answers to Kerala’s perpetual attacking threat.

Emil Benny - 7

Benny was industrious and clinical in the middle of the park. He was heavily involved in NorthEast’s attacks, and also played two key passes and a number of long balls.

Joseba Beitia – 6.5

Despite the agonizing defeat, the Spaniard was incumbent with his defensive duties and also had two shots. Beitia also won a total of six aerial and ground duels, and had an 88% passing accuracy.

Pragyan Sundar Gogoi - 6

NorthEast United’s captain Pragyan also failed to impressive tonight. The player had only 28 touches, and played zero key passes or crosses in the 60 minutes for which he was on the pitch.

Jithin MS – 6.5

Jithin had a decent game in the left wing. The 25-year-old was accurate with his passing and was clinical everytime he progressed with the ball.

Kule Mbombo - 6

Mbombo was poor tonight. The forward was very idle with his movements, and wasn’t at all clinical. Kule had zero shots throughout the 85 minutes he played.

Romain Philippoteaux - 6.5

Romain had the chance in front of goal for NorthEast, but unfortunately failed to hit the target. The French was making moves for the Highlanders, and had one of his better performances with the club.

Substitutes

Mashoor Shareef – 6.5

Mashoor added a lot more solidity and confident into the backline after coming on in the second half. His inclusion prevented his team from conceding any goal in the second half.

Mohamed Irshad – 6.5

Irshad wasn’t able to make any serious impact on the game in the 25 minutes he had on the pitch. The player however won three duels, and attempted a shot on goal.

Parthib Gogoi - 7

NorthEast United’s young-gun Parthib Gogoi was once again impressive with his performance. The 19-year-old came on in the final quarter of the game, and impressed everybody with his precise passing and extraordinary movements

Rocharzella – N/A

Imran Khan – N/A