Northeast United secured their second consecutive win in ISL 2026/27 beating Kerala Blasters 4-0 at Guwahati. Talisman striker Ajaraie was the star of the show with two goals while Mono Yansane scored the only goal for the Blasters.
The first half was marred by poor play from the visitors. Kerala struggled to control the attack from the right by Jithin MS who would easily get past the left back more than once. The home side dominated the position while Kerala struggled to get some momentum when they got the ball. Most of the early warning signs were not taken seriously by the Kerala defence and they paid for it halfway through the first half.
Alaaeddine Ajaraie made a run cutting the lane got hold of a low through ball left the keeper on the ground before dribbling past him and just passed the ball into the empty net. Blasters defence was caught ball watching before that through ball came in. The second for Northeast was scored by Moyano in first half stoppage time.
Ajaraie proved again why he is one of the most lethal attackers in ISL right now with a curving shot which nestled in the top of the net at the 70th minute. The fourth goal came from a Keralite in the Northeast jersey, Aman CK in 82th minute.
The second half started on a positive note for the blasters. Players, especially the midfielders were running for the ball whenever the team didn’t have possession, competing and putting the home team under pressure, leading to the latter making mistakes. Blasters fans had some hope after Yansane scored from outside the box on the near post. After a give and go, Luna sent in a beautiful backheel layoff for the Blasters number 99 who unleashed a clean strike which was too hot for the Northeast keeper Gurmeet to handle.
The defence has big holes in it for the team in yellow. It was a miracle of sorts that Blasters did not concede a goal against Kashi in their opener.
One player that has underperformed massively is Andre Green. He is not fast for a winger at present and hopefully improves as the season goes on. For now let’s give him the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t have enough preseason to get prepared. But for someone who has played in the top tier of English football, his performances in the two games this season have been poor. The man couldn’t dribble past wingbacks against Kashi, and even when he did, the final pass is disappointing.
Luna played his first game of the season and doesn’t look 100% fit either. But there were instances where he did impact the game especially his cheeky assist.
With two wins in two, Northeast sits at the top of the table in the league followed by Bengaluru FC. KBFC dropped to 6th with the heavy defeat and now has a negative goal difference.
Kerala will be playing their first home game of the season against Mumbai City FC up next. So it’s oil money vs former oil money in Kochi’s season opener next Sunday.