Mumbai City FC go down against Chennaiyin FC

by FC Admin November 24, 2014

Mumbai: Mumbai City FC went down 0-3 to table toppers Chennaiyin FC in the inaugural Hero Indian Super League at the D.Y. Patil Stadium here on Sunday evening.

Bruno Pelissari (71st), Dhanchandra Singh (81st) and Christian Hidalgo (89th) scored the goals for the visitors who extended their lead at the top by three points over Atletico de Kolkata.

The hosts went into the match high on confidence, having maintained a clean slate in their last five games and it showed in their performance in the first half. The opening 45 minutes of the match was a battle of attrition with both teams not willing to take many risks at the start and were content to play within themselves thereafter.

While the visitors had the better possession in the opening half, the two best chances before the break fell to Mumbai City FC. Jan Stohanzl was a tad late to arrive in the box to connect a cross in the fifth minute and the ball went wide after hitting him.

“I think its right to say that we made two big errors for the first two goals,” Mumbai City FC coach Peter Reid admitted after the game. “I don’t think injury to key players was the main issue. Even Chennai missed a few players. I just think we didn’t have enough quality out there on the night,” he added.

The second time Mumbai City FC came close to scoring was when Bernand Mendy lost the ball near his box. But Chennaiyin FC goalkeeper Gennaro Bracigliano parried Andre Moritz’s shot and Tiago Ribiero, who replaced Nicolas Anelka in the starting XI, ended up shooting wide on the rebound.

Mumbai City FC came close to scoring several times in the second half before a mistake at the back gave Pelissari a chance break the deadlock with a right footer.

With Mumbai City FC chasing the game, Chennaiyin’s got more chances on the counter and were able to extend their lead thanks to a couple more mistakes at the back.

“When you are struggling to score goals, it’s important that you don’t make silly errors at the back. It’s not pleasant, but we can’t change that now. We just got to get ready for Delhi now,” Reid said.

Chennaiyin FC 3 (Bruno Pelissari 71, Dhanchandra Singh 81 Christian 89) bt Mumbai City FC 0

Swift moment of the match: Dhanachandra Singh; Fittest player of the match: Jan Stohanzl; Emerging player of the match: Balwant Singh; Hero of the match: Bruno Pellesari.