Mumbai FC produced another valiant performance but went down fighting 1-3 to Shillong Lajong FC in an exciting fifth round I-League 2016-2017 clash at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shillong, Meghalaya on Saturday evening.
Santosh Kashyap, the Head Coach of the Mumbai club started the match with his new foreign recruits Densill Theobald, a midfielder from Trinidad and Tobago and attacking midfielder Robson Santana (Robinho) from Brazil. Skipper Steven Dias, striker Victorino Fernandes and defenders Pratik Chowdhary and Shallum Pires were left on the bench.
The home side Manager Thangboi Singto did not alter his winning combination as he retained unchanged team that won the last game which they won against Minerva Punjab.
The visiting Mumbai side and the hosts Lajong played an open attacking game and there was plenty of goal-scoring chances created at the two ends. Had the Mumbai attackers capitalized on the many openings the outcome of the match would have been completely different. On the other hand the Lajong attackers, in particular their Cameroon striker A. Dipanda (Dicka) did well to cash in on two gilt-edged chances in the first period to give the home side the advantage which the managed to hang on to emerge winners.
Substitute Karan Sawhney who had replaced Hitesh Sharma at the start of the second half got Mumbai back in the game with a goal from Raegan Singh’s free-kick in the 56th minute. Thereafter, Mumbai FC continued to exert pressure on the rival goal but they were let down by some bad finishing. Theobald and Thoi Singh failed to score from ideal positions and that proved costly.
Lajong regained their two goal cushion when Chinglensana Singh scored from a goalmouth melee in the 70th minute. In the remaining period Mumbai went all out in search of more goals but all their efforts went in vain.
The visitors were dealt another blow as goalkeeper and captain Laxmikant Kattimani was shown a direct red card in the 87th minute. The goalkeeper left the area and played the ball with his hand denying the rival attackers from scoring a certain goal. He will miss the next round due to suspension.
Mumbai FC with six points have slipped to sixth position while Lajong also with six points have climbed up to fifth place in the 10-team standings.
Mumbai FC outfit will now travel to Kolkata to meet East Bengal (February 1). They next go north for a seventh round game against Minerva Punjab (February 4) and then move down south to play against Chennai City FC (February 11). The Mumbai club returns to Mumbai for a home match against Mohun Bagan on February 15.
Results: Shillong Lajong 3 (A. Dipanda 28th, 43rd, Chinglensana Singh70th) beat Mumbai FC 1 (Karan Sawhney 56th).