ISL: Mendez helps Bengaluru end two-year wait for victory in Kochi against Kerala Blasters

Edgar Mendez scores Bengaluru FC’s second goal against Kerala Blasters during the ISL match in Kochi on Friday. Photo: Tulsi Kakkat | Photo Courtesy: Tulsi Kakkat

Substitute Edgar Mendez scored twice as Bengaluru FC beat Kerala Blasters 3-1 at the Nehru Stadium in the ISL on Friday night, ending a two-year wait for a win in Kochi.

Sathkar Mendez, who came on to replace Bengaluru’s first goalscorer Argentinian Pereyra Diaz shortly after the end of the hour, took advantage of goalkeeper Som Kumar’s mistakes to score both his goals.

Mendez got the first blow when Som spilled Noguera’s freekick attempt in the 73rd minute and Mendez, who was right behind him, fired it into the goal to give Bengaluru a 2–1 lead.

And when the home team was looking for an equalizer in injury time and almost the entire team was focused on saving the game, then came Mendez’s second goal. Taking the offer provided by Mohamed Salah, Mendez stepped forward and was thrilled to find Somme outside the penalty area and comfortably score his second goal.

Till then the match had become very exciting. Diaz almost stole the ball from defender Pritam Kotal for his opening goal. He raced into the box and scored with a smart lob over goalkeeper Som from the center of the box. But the Blasters equalized through a penalty late in the first half when Kwame Peprah was brought down by Rahul Bheke inside the box. And Jesus Jimenez dodged goalkeeper Gurpreet Sandhu with a small volley and found the back of the net with a nice shot.

Result: Kerala Blasters FC 1 (Jesus Jimenez 45+2) lost to Bengaluru FC 3 (Pereyra Diaz 9, Edgar Mendez 73 and 90+4).