Chennai: Kerala Blasters FC survived a tremendous onslaught from hosts Chennaiyin FC to win 4-3 on aggregate in the first semi-final to enter the final of the inaugural Indian Super League (ISL) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Tuesday.
Chennaiyin won the second leg match 3-1 after extra time, but that wasn’t enough to overturn a 0-3 deficit from the away leg at Kochi.
Both teams ended the match with 10 men after Kerala’s James McAllister and Chennai’s Marco Materazzi were shown red cards.
Midfielder Stephen Pearson scored the tie-clinching goal in the 117th minute of the contest. Chennaiyin, earlier, had produced a fascinating fightback to square the contest 3-3 in regulation time.
