NEUFC rallied back from 3-1 down to hold the incumbent champions – and the current leaders – of the Indian Super League to a 3-3 draw, courtesy of a Deshorn Brown hattrick.
The sides played out a six-goal thriller at the Fatorda, with both sides sharing the spoils. Mumbai City looked to be in control of the game after taking a 3-1 lead, but Brown scored twice in the second half to peg them back level.
It was Brown himself who opened the scoring in the 29th minute. The Jamaican forward raced clear of the Mumbai defence before collecting a long pass from Imran Khan – which he then converted into a goal from close quarters. NorthEast United’s lead lasted just four minutes, as at the other end, Igor Angulo pulled Mumbai level by tapping in a square pass from Bipin Singh from the centre of the box.
Bipin landed a further blow on the Highlanders’ hopes when he somehow squeezed his shot past Mirshad Michu from a tight angle, going away from goal, to give the champions the lead heading into the break.
After the restart, things got worse for Khalid Jamil’s men before they got better. Rahul Bheke, stepping out of his defence, released Ygor Catatau down the right flank in the 52nd minute. Michu committed himself to the ball but, seeing as Catatau would reach it first, began retracing his steps and was caught off-balance as a result when the attacker squared the ball to Angulo for a tap-in.
Mumbai’s two-goal cushion lasted for three minutes. Another long ball over the top of the Islanders’ defence was collected by Brown, who waited for centre-back Mehtab Singh to go to the ground before poking the ball past Mohammad Nawaz.
NEUFC completed their comeback in the 80th minute, courtesy of some poor defending by the league leaders. A cross from Coureur was headed away from the palms of his goalkeeper by Bheke. But, his clearance fell kindly to Imran inside the box, whose shot was touched into an unguarded net by Brown for his hattrick.
Mumbai had the chance to win the game deep into stoppage time, but first, Michu denied Angulo from close range before Bheke skied his shot from even closer from the following corner.
