ISL: Bengaluru rides on Mendez’s brace against Kerala Blasters, ends two-year wait for a win in Kochi

Bengaluru FC's Edgar Mendez shines with two goals in a 3-1 victory over Kerala Blasters in ISL.

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

An alert Mendez, who had come in shortly after the hour mark replacing Argentine Pereyra Diaz the Bengaluru goal-scorer earlier, made the most of goalkeeper Som Kumar’s fumble for both his goals.

Mendez’s first strike came when Som dropped Noguera’s freekick effort in the 73rd minute and Mendez, who was just behind him, slammed it home to give Bengaluru a 2-1 lead.

And just when the home side was desperately searching for the equaliser in the injury time, with virtually the entire team focused on saving the game, came Mendez’s second goal. Taking the offer provided by Mohammed Salah, Mendez raced forward and was thrilled to find Som out of the penalty area and scored his second goal comfortably.

The match was a close thriller until then. Diaz virtually 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 centre of the box. But the Blasters found the equaliser through a penalty late in the first half when Kwame Peprah was brought down inside the box by Rahul Bheke. And Jesus Jimenez foxed the goalkeeper Gurpreet Sandhu with a small stutter and found back of the net with a nice shot.

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