TG Purushothaman highlights importance of teamwork after Kerala Blasters' dramatic win over Odisha FC.

Kerala Blasters prevailed over the Kalinga Warriors in a five-goal thriller.

TG Purushothaman-coached Kerala Blasters have had an ecstatic night at Kochi, after a victory in a topsy-turvy five-goal thriller against Odisha FC in the Indian Super League (ISL). Jerry Mawihmingthanga scored the opener for Odisha early in the first half. The Blasters responded emphatically in the second half, with Kwame Peprah scoring the equalizer at the hour mark and Jesus Jimenez following up with a goal in his comeback to take the lead.

When it looked like the Tuskers were running away with a victory, Dorielton equalized for Odisha in the 80th minute. However, the Kalinga Warriors were soon reduced to ten men as Carlos Delgado saw a red card. Noah Sadaoui’s deflected right-foot curler luckily found the back of the net in the dying seconds, securing the victory for the Blasters and keeping their playoff hopes alive.

Teamwork to overcome individual errors

Kerala Blasters‘ interim coach TG Purushothaman has been the man of the moment, leading the club to back-to-back victories after coming off a struggling period. Nevertheless, there are areas for improvement for the Blasters, especially in defence, as frequent individual errors nearly cost them another game this campaign, with Sachin Suresh often being a recurring culprit.

TG Purushothaman, sharing his thoughts on handling individual errors as the team’s collective responsibility, said, “As I have always said, it is not an individual mistake. It happens as a team because all the individual players make up the team. If one player makes a mistake, the team makes a mistake.”

“The team has to react accordingly, and that is exactly what we showed tonight. We reacted, we scored more goals, and we emerged victorious. This is what we believe we can do as a team. We can’t blame individuals because all of our individuals are part of this team,” said the tactician.

Second-half redemption

TG Purushothaman, reflecting on his side’s second-half display, stated, “It was all part of our plan and we were very strict about following it. We knew that after the 60-minute mark, we could turn things around. It was our game plan for today, and we succeeded in implementing it. So, there are mostly little things to work on, and we will move forward like this.”

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