User:Ken Tony/Sandbox For Football Works

After a dramatic end to the 2022–23 season, the Blasters started preparations for the new season. The club parted ways with their assistant coach Ishfaq Ahmed after his four years at the club.[1] Ahead of the season, the Blasters' captain Jessel Carneiro also left the club and signed for the rivals Bengaluru FC.[2] This season also witnessed the departure of their Indian midfielder and then-most-capped player at the time, Sahal Abdul Samad, who left the club following a swap deal with Mohun Bagan Super Giant for Pritam Kotal, and for a transfer fee of ₹90 lakhs.[3] The club also made their most expensive signing its history by paying FC Goa a reported fee of ₹1.45 crores for the transfer of Aibanbha Dohling on a three-year contract.[4] The Blasters retained Dimitrios Diamantakos, who was their leading goal-scorer from the previous season, as he signed a one-year contract extension,[5] and was one among the three foreign players alongside Adrián Luna and Marko Lešković to be retained for this season.[6] The Blasters started the 2023–24 season with 2023 Durand Cup after being drawn alongside Bengaluru in Group C. They started their campaign on 13 August 2023 with a 3–4 defeat against Gokulam Kerala FC.[7] With their 5–0 win over the Indian Navy FT in their last match of the Durand Cup, the Blasters registered the highest win in their history, but was eliminated from the competition after finishing third in the group with just four points.[8]

After making new foreign reinforcements with the likes of Miloš Drinčić, Kwame Peprah, and Daisuke Sakai, the Blasters came in to the new season of the Indian Super League, as they played in the opening match of the season against Bengaluru FC on 21 September, which they would win 2–1 at full-time.[9] After the end of the ten-match ban imposed on Ivan Vukomanović by the AIFF-DC due to the walk-out incident from the previous season's playoffs, the Blasters gaffer made his return to the dug-out on 27 October Odisha FC in a 2–1 comeback win.[10] During this match, the Blasters captain Adrián Luna became the joint all-time top-scorer of the club alongside Bartholomew Ogbeche after scoring the winner of the match for the Blasters.[11] Amidst the ever growing injury crisis at the club, the Blasters midfielder Freddy Lallawmawma was met with an unprecedented bike accident, and was ruled out for a significant part of the season.[12] After his brace against Chennaiyin FC in November, the Blasters's striker Diamantakos became the all-time top scorer at the club with 16 goals across all competitions, surpassing the joint-record set by Ogbeche and Luna.[13] The Blasters were hit with another set-back as their captain Luna was also ruled-out injured midway the season, until he made his return in the league playoffs in April 2024.[14] During this season, the Blasters registered their first ever win against Mohun Bagan Super Giant in their last match of 2023.[15]

Following the winter-breaks, the Blasters took part in the 2024 Indian Super Cup in the month of January..[16] They began their campaign on 10 January in a 3–1 over Shillong Lajong FC.[17] However, the Blasters were disqualified from the tournament following the two defeats in the rest of the group stage matches.[18]

The second phase of the league began following the conclusion of the Super Cup, as an injury stricken Blasters made their return on 2 February in a 2–1 defeat against Odisha.[19] Following their win against Mohun Bagan in December 2023, the Blasters would win only two out of their rest of the ten league matches (against FC Goa and Hyderabad FC respectively), as they ended the regular season with 33 points at 5th spot in the table, but qualified for the league playoffs for the third consecutive time for the first time in club's history.[20] The Blasters met Odisha away from home in the knockout play-offs on 19 April 2024.[21] After a goal-less first-half, the Blasters took the lead through a second-half goal by Fedor Černych, but a late minute equalizer by Odisha took the game to extra-time, and the home side would score their winner in the extra-time to knock the Blasters out of the tournament as they lost the match by the score of 2–1 at 120 minutes.[22] By the end of the season, the Blasters had over a dozen injuries in their squad throughout the season,[23][24] as the Blasters ended their 2023–24 season without a silverware.[25]

After topping the goal-scoring charts in the league with 13 goals in 17 games, the Blasters' striker Dimitrios Diamantakos won the league's Golden Boot award, and thus became the first-ever Blasters player to win the award.[26] Post-season, on 26 April, the Blasters would bid farewell to their coach Ivan Vukomanović after his three years at the club.[27]