That revival and a late surge for a top four spot received a major blow, after the Kerala Blasters suffered a 3-2 defeat to Atletico de Kolkata in ISL 2015 on Tuesday.
Needing a win, or at the very least to avoid defeat, the Blasters came back from a goal down twice in this Indian Super League game at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, only for the super sub Arata Izumi to score the winner in stoppage time to give the champions the win they absolutely needed as well.
Nallappan Mohanraj opened the scoring for Atletico de Kolkata, before Antonio German, who had to come in for the injured Sanchez Watt in the first half, equalised from the penalty spot just before halftime, after Denzil Franco brought down Josu inside the box.
With the game seemingly heading for a draw, it came alive in the final minutes as Arta Izumi, via a lucky floater made it 2-1, before German's assured finish into the bottom corner brought the game back level again.
However, Izumi would have the last word, scoring the winner right at the end to break the hearts of the majority of the supporters in Kochi.
"I think it's fair that ATK won the game, but it was also possible for Kerala to win the game," Atletico de Kolkata manager Antonio Lopez Habas said. "In football, we have to fight for maximum points. It's very important to maintain the belief for the team.
"We played for a win. We want to take on the opposition on the pitch. ATK players needed confidence going into this game and we could not lose. The players played fantastic and we won."
The win takes Kolkata up to fourth in the table, while Kerala stay marooned at the bottom, with their hopes of making it to the semifinals of ISL 2015 looking pretty dim, even if only five points, still separate them from fourth place.
"I'm not giving up and my boys won't give up," Blasters manager Terry Phelan said. "If I was going to give up, I'd rather walk out of this door right now. Anybody can beat anybody in this league.
"We've got to pick ourselves up. Got to go away from home. We've got three odd games away and we've got to see what we can do. The pressure is on the other teams. We know what we have to do. The pressure is on the other teams."
Watch the highlights of the match HERE
