Mumbai City FC have brushed off the odd defeat they suffered at the hands of Hyderabad FC, and have registered two more wins to keep their position at the top of the table. The Shield and tournament winners from last season are adamant to repeat the same this time as they took another crucial step towards it on Thursday, registering an emphatic 4-2 win over Jamshedpur FC.
It took just over two minutes for the Westcoast Brigade to get going. Having received a corner on the left flank, they played the ball directly into the path of Cassio Gabriel on the edge of the box. He went for the shot first time, and a schoolboy error of judgement from TP Rehenesh got them the opening goal of the game.
Greg Stewart had a great chance to equalize for Jamshedpur a couple of minutes later, but he fired the shot straight into the hands of the keeper. They regretted it soon after, with another defensive mistake leading to the second goal for Mumbai.
Eli Sabia tried to see a through ball from Mourtada Fall over the touchline, but it was intelligently stolen by Gabriel, who had acres of space to drift into the box from the right side, and played a superb pass for Bipin Singh to slot it home into an empty net.
Gabriel setup another goal seven minutes later, threading a ball into the box to Igor Angulo, who took a delightful touch to turn around the defender and fired it home to make it 3-0 for Mumbai. Mumbai managed to see a further threat and went into the first half break with the same cushion.
Jamshedpur clawed back into the game early into the second 45, with Komal Thatal thumping it home from a tight angle just two minutes into the half. Eli Sabia, who was at fault for letting Mumbai’s second goal, scored an all-important second at the other end. After Renthlei’s cross initially was footed to the crossbar by Ishan Pandita, and it pinballed its way to Sabia, who put it from close range.
Just as the game was beginning to get more interesting, Ygor Catatou got the all-important deal-breaker for Mumbai, who took back the 2-goal cushion and carried it until the end of the game. This was Mumbai’s 4th win of the tournament in five games, with Jamshedpur missing out on a great chance to go on top of the table.
