Kerala Blasters FC played out their second goalless draw as Jamshedpur FC frustrated the home side in a Hero Indian Super League (ISL) game here on Friday.
The Blasters were playing their second game at home but failed to take an advantage. Their opening match against ATK had also ended in a 0-0 draw.
Former Manchester United star Dimitar Berbatov lasted the full 90 minutes again and had an acrobatic effort go waste at the near post but the best chance for the Blasters fell to CK Vineeth after Canadian Iain Hume dug out a cross to pick him from the right wing.
Vineeth's heading opportunity went abegging as did so many other half chances, which didn't materialise due to the lack of a quality final ball in the attacking third.
The Blasters started the match in typical fashion with a quick tempo and feeding off the energy of the crowd, but Jamshedpur did well to weather the initial storm and countered a few times.
Their best effort though was palmed away not once but twice in quick succession by Paul Rachubka.
It all started with Memo's stinging effort from a free kick, and once that was seen away by a diving Rachubka, he got back up and kept the rebound effort from Jerry Mawihmingthanga out as well.
Rachubka was alert in added time as well and Jamshedpur finished the game as a stronger team.
Trindad Goncalves's brilliant cross found Kervens Belfort, but his header was incredibly saved by the 36-year- old goalkeeper.
The first half had its fair share of entertainment with Blasters' Courage Pekuson's shot narrowly missing the target.
In a way, it was a roundup of the match itself, which will be remembered more for the goalkeeping heroics of Rachubka than the missed efforts from all the attackers on the pitch.
Mumbai play Goa
Mumbai: Hosts Mumbai City FC would look to shrug off their defeat against Bengaluru FC and chase their first win of the season when they take on FC Goa in anISL match here on Saturday.
Bottom-placed Mumbai, who will miss services of injured Leo Costa, were unable to score against Bengaluru, who thrashed them 2-0.
The hosts have some good forwards in Balwant Singh, Rafa Jorda, Everton Santos who need to fire and convert chances. Mumbai City head coach Alexandre Guimaraies would also be keen that his defenders and mid-fielders put up a spirited show and don't concede any goals.
Their hopes also depend on the performance of their star goal-keeper Amrinder Singh, who would look to repeat his last year's heroics, when he earned the Golden Glove award.
Guimaraies today admitted that his side was more prepared for Saturday's game then the opening one. "We have a tough game. Goa did very well against Chennayin. We have to improve our performance from the first game. For tomorrow, we are more complete in our squad compared to first game and we are prepared," the Costa Rican told reporters ahead of the game.
"So we are prepared and are hoping that it's going to be a good game and we go for a win," Guimaraies added.
Mumbai had only a shot on target in the last game. When asked about it, the coach said, "We had key players like Balwant (Singh) injured after 12 minutes of the game. Leo Costa got injured."
Goa, who are at number four in the table, on the other hand started on a winning note by defeating Chennayin FC 3-2. And they will look to continue the winning streak.
With forwards like Adrian Colunga Perez, Ferran Telechea, Manvir Singh and a host of good mid-fielders and defenders, their coach Sergio Lobero would expect a complete performance at the Andheri Sports Complex. "We did have a very good start in the last game, but as it is in football living in the past will not get you anywhere, so all of us are thinking of the next game, and we are all on tomorrow, We don't want to focus on past results," Spaniard Lobero said.
The FC coach also said that striker Collunga is injured.
"The only injury we have is Collunga. He failed to recover from the injury he was carrying last week but beyond that the team remains the same," he said.