Mumbai FC had another bad day in office and after some good performance they went down fighting 0-1 to Aizawl FC in a fourth round I-League 2016-2017 match at the Cooperage ground, on Sunday evening. Syrian Mahmoud Al Amna netted the lone goal in the 79th minute.
Action during the Mumbai FC and Aizawl FC fourth round I-League match
The Mumbai coach Santosh Kashyap made four changes to the team which played in the last game at Bengaluru. He left out on the bench skipper Steven Dias, striker Victorino Fernandes and defender Raegan Singh and the injured Lalchawnkima. Kashyap decided to go in with five defenders and retained defender Chinta Rao, who had replaced Lalchawnkima in the last game and included Asheer Akhtar and Munmun Lugun to add depth in the backline in an attempt to contain the rival attackers. Dependable stopper Pratik Chowdhary Shallum Pires were the other two defenders.
Coach Khalid Jamil, who joined Aizawl this season after coaching the Mumbai club for the last six seasons, went in with his full compliment of four foreigners, which included captain and attacking medio Alfred Kemah from Liberia, central midfielder Mahmoud Al Amna from Syria, Ivory Coast striker Bayi Kamo and Nigerian defender Kingsley Obumneme. The North-Eastern club also started with two former Mumbai FC stars Jayesh Rane and Ashutosh Mehta.
The Mumbai outfit started with a packed defence and they were made to put in extra efforts and they did well to arrest the flow of attacks from the Aizawl forwards. The Mumbai forwards also made a couple of raids towards the rival goal with Thoi Singh going wide from close and later his teasing cross from the right was comfortably collected by Aizawl custodian Albino Gomes.
The faster Aizwal attack came close in the very second minute when Albert Zohmingmawia sent a low ball across the Mumbai FC goal, but Bayi Kamo blasted over from just outside the six yard box. Later the Mumbai goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani parried over Albert’s snap shot from the right in the 26th minute.
Goalkeeper Kattimani once again came to the rescue of his team as he charged out in the nick of time to foil Mehta after the latter had latched on to Rane’s defence splitting through pass in the 34th minute.
The visitors continued to the same attacking mode, but the Mumbai outfit, were resolute in their defending and effectively dealt with the threats posed by the Aizawl forwards.
But their resistance was finally broken in the 79th minute when from a swift counter attack Al Amna, who had initiated the move, put the finishing touch. The Syrian with a precise through opened the way for Lalruatthara to break down the left channel. The under-22 wing back Lalruathara moved deep and sent in perfect pass to Al Amna, who trapped the ball at the edge of the area and then punted past the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Katimanni to bring the Aizwal supporters who had gathered in large numbers and dressed in red on their feet.
Mumbai FC tried to come back and forced a couple of corners, but even their skipper Dias who replaced Asheer Akhtar was unable to help his team get the much needed equalizer and they had to finish on the losing side.
This was the second successive defeat for the home side after their brilliant start with two wins on the trot. The Aizawl have maintained their unbeaten run having recorded their third successive win after drawing with East Bengal in the opening match.
Mumbai FC will now travel on the road to play four away games. They play against Shillong Lajong (January 28), next move to Kolkata to meet East Bengal (February 1), then look forward to the game against Minerva Punjab (February 4) and the fourth away game against Chennai City FC (February 11). The Mumbai club returns to Mumbai for an home match against Mohun Bagan on February 15.
Result : Mumbai FC 0 lost to Aizawl FC 1 (Mahmoud Al Amna 79th).