Mumbai City reclaims top four status with a 1-0 triumph over East Bengal
Defending champions Mumbai City reclaimed their place in the top four with a 1-0 win over East Bengal in ‘Match 98’ of the 2021-22 Indian Super League season. A solitary goal from Bipin Singh was enough for Des Buckingham’s men to seal all three points from this game.
Buckingham made two changes to his starting XI as he replaced Mandar Rao Dessai with Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, whereas Brad Inman slotted in for Ahmed Jahouh.
On the other hand, East Bengal’s head coach Mario Rivera shuffled his starting XI quite a bit by making five changes. Raju Gaikwad and Bikash Jairu replaced Hira Mondal and Naocha Singh in defense while Sourav Das came in for Amarjit Singh Kiyam in midfield. Naorem Mahesh and Thongkhosiem Haokip were also handed starts at the expense of Antonio Perosevic and Rahul Paswan.
With nothing to lose, the Red and Golds had a bright start to the game. In the 8th minute, Mahesh pulled the trigger but his shot was deflected for a corner. Fran Sota’s subsequent delivery was met with a stunning leap by Lalrinliana Hnamte, but Mumbai City’s custodian Mohammed Nawaz was up to the task as he flew to his left to make a good save.
Eight minutes later, Inman combined with Igor Angulo before the latter went for glory, but with the angle being narrow, he could only find the side netting. There was a loud unanimous penalty call from the Red and Golds’ players four minutes before the half-hour mark, claiming that Mohammed Rafique was brought down inside the box by Mourtada Fall. However, referee Ashwin deemed the contact insufficient to award a spot-kick.
Mahesh was involved in another move in the 42nd minute when he darted down the right flank before attempting a curling shot, but Cassinho made a great last-ditch block to avert the danger. Barely two minutes later, Sota went for glory after receiving a pass from Hnamte, but the Spaniard’s final effort missed the target by a whisker.
Hnamte continued showcasing his skills in the second half as well since four minutes after the resumption, he wriggled past a few blue shirts with ease but just as he was preparing to pull the trigger, the ball was cleared away by another player in blue.
All of these missed eventually came back to haunt Rivera’s team as Bipin opened the scoring for the Islanders in the 51st minute. In a textbook counter-attacking move, Inman drove with the ball before releasing Bipin on the right who did well to curl his shot past Sankar Roy in the East Bengal goal.
Buckingham’s men almost doubled their lead in the 72nd minute when in an attempt to clear a freekick to safety, Haokip almost kicked the ball into his own net.
Mumbai City custodian Mohamed Nawaz made some crucial saves
With ten minutes remaining of stipulated ninety, Sota audaciously attempted an Olympic goal but Nawaz was up to the task. However, Mumbai City defenders failed to clear their lines properly as the ball eventually fell for Raju Gaikwad who came up with a fantastic bicycle kick, but yet again, Nawaz was the Islanders’ hero as he made a point-blank save.
East Bengal’s final chance of rescuing a point from the game came right at the stroke of full time when Sota got a freekick from a decent position, but his curling effort was directed straight at Nawaz.
Mumbai City has moved to fourth position in the standings with this now and will now face Goa on Saturday, whilst the bottom-ranked East Bengal will clash swords against fellow strugglers NorthEast United on Monday.