Kerala Blasters FC

Iain Hume says fans and team deserve victory


Kerala Blasters FC brushed aside Chennaiyin FC with a resounding 3-0 victory in the first leg of their semifinal fixture at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi. Iain Hume was once again on top of his game with a poachers finish as he added a fifth to his goal tally. “The first half performance was the best we have has this season. I think it was unfortunate that we went into the first half with only two goals. We had a goal disallowed, we had a couple of chances that were saved. So the first half was brilliant! The second half they had to let loose and they did,” exclaimed Hume to indiansuperleague.com in an exclusive post-match interview.
Kerala dominated for most of the game and a couple of chances to extend their lead even further. Despite their dominance, Hume heaped praise on Chennai centre back Bernard Mendy, although he was equally delighted with how his teammates managed to make life difficult for the Chennaiyin defender and the rest of the visiting back-line. “Mendy was a thorn in the side the whole match. We stopped him from scoring and from keeping a clean sheet, and to top it off – finishing off the game with a wonderful strike by Sushanth (Mathew) into the right corner! I was right behind it, that was unstoppable and that just sums up how much it meant to us and how hard we’ve been working,” declared the Canadian striker.
“They’re a good side and today we’ve made them look like an average side. That’s no disrespect to them but a testament to our performance and our work ethic. I think we deserved the win today, though we know we are only halfway there,” said an ecstatic Hume.
“We’re going in Tuesday to a tough place; they’re top of the league for a reason. So when we go in on Tuesday night it’s going to be ten times harder than tonight, “revealed Kerala’s No.10. “The victory without a doubt is going to give us confidence but we can’t be arrogant. We’ve got to keep our heads level because if we just beat them 3-0 then who’s to say they can’t do the same thing. They’ve done it to teams all season. It’s going to be tough! They’ve got a good group of hands there,” commented Hume. .
Kerala scored some exquisite goals tonight with Ishfaq Ahmed’s thumping strike to open the scoring and Mathew’s beautifully curled effort in the dying minutes of the game to make it 3-0, delighting the raucous Kochi crowd in the process. Hume dedicated the victory to the fans saying, “I’m just extremely happy that we have got the result that we got today. And our performance was for the fans here, over 60,000 people. When you look around, the game’s been over for 20 minutes and no one’s left the ground! So rightfully they deserve everything they’ve got today, and so do we.”
The 31-year-old ended the interview on a cautious note saying, “We’re going to enjoy but we are not going to let ourselves get arrogant. We’re going to set ourselves up for tomorrow and prepare to face Chennai once again.”



 


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