Mumbai FC comeback floors Union Bank of India

by Kaushal Shukla October 27, 2015

Mumbai FC made a winning return to the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) Elite Division after coming from behind to beat Union Bank of India 5-2 at Cooperage on Monday afternoon. Mumbai FC were reduced to ten men following Cletus Paul’s red card in the second half, but the city’s sole representatives in the I-League had no problems in recording a win.

Khalid Jamil started with two of his new recruits M. Metei from Bengaluru FC and Steven Dias who was signed from Bharat FC. Japanese midfielder Taisuke took his place in the Mumbai FC midfield along side Cletus Paul and Shilton D’Silva.

But Mumbai FC were stunned when Shravan Shetty fired Union Bank of India into a 6th minute lead with a composed finish. But Mumbai FC soon found their stride and hit back ten minutes later through Japanese midfielder Taisuke Matsugae who made a brilliant diagonal run inside the box to head home a cross and settle Mumbai FC down.

The equaliser sapped UBI’s confidence as they came under extreme pressure from Mumbai FC. Six minutes later, Mumbai FC once again breached UBI’s defence as new signing Malemnganba Mettei capped off a wonderful Mumbai FC move with a header from close range.

Cletus Paul then got in on the act in the 27th minute, giving Mumbai FC a 3-1 lead as Mumbai FC threatened to run riot. However UBI somehow managed to steady the ship and looked to have avoided further damage going into half time until the 3rd minute of first half stoppage time saw Taisuke release Mettei on the left with a through ball who then played a clever pass to debutent Karan Sawhney who matched the pass with a witty run to beat the offside and trap and score past a hapless UBI goalkeeper.

Mumbai FC showed no signs to slow down after the break as they added a fifth goal just three minutes into the break when Steven Dias found the marauding Mumbai FC right back in space whose pin point cross from the right was headed home by Cletus Paul who grabbed the second of the game.

However, he went from hero to villain for Mumbai FC as he was shown a red card for a rash tackle in the 68th minute. Mumbai FC then wen for preventive measures as Sawhney was sacrificed for a midfielder. Mumbai FC looked content with the scoreline and tried to play out the game, but UBI gave a good response with a numerical advantage and were rewarded with a penalty with five minutes to play. Shravan Shetty who earned the spot kick stepped up to convert it and make it a scoreline of 5-2 in Mumbai FC’s favour.

Mumbai FC racked up their first three points of the season in fine style as they began to wipe off a six point hit suffered due to walkovers in their previous games.