Haitian international Kervens Belfort scored the match-winner through a solo effort to help Kerala Blasters beat Delhi Dynamos by a solitary goal in their first leg semifinals of the Indian Super league football here on Sunday.
Played in front of a massive nearly 50,000 crowd, Kerala continued with their impressive home run as they registered their sixth consecutive win here, thanks to a 65th minute strike from Belfort at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
The Sachin Tendulkar co-owned side will take a slender but important advantage in their second leg semifinal to be played in New Delhi on December 14 for a place in the summit clash.
Kerala were on a five-match winning streak at their home ground before this match and they seemed to be in good shape for the first leg semi-final encounter. Dynamos too looked good at the start with all players being available and they almost silenced the huge crowd in the first minute itself.
A long ball from the midfield saw Florent Malouda take aim but a clearance saw the ball fall for Kean lewis. Before the Delhi winger could try his luck, defender Cedric Hengbart stood in his way and deflected the ball away for a corner.
In the second session, Belfort and Kerala were not to be denied in the 65th minute when the Haitian striker received a ball in his own half. He ran quite a distance with the ball, sidestepped defender Ruben Gonzalez Rocha and took a chance with only the goalkeeper to beat. The shot was not powerful enough but a deflection from the sliding Anas Edathodika was enough to catch goalkeeper Antonio Doblas on the wrong foot and the ball sailed into the net.