Mumbai FC succumb to slick Salgaocar

by Kaushal Shukla March 29, 2015

Salgaocar avenged their 3-0 loss to Mumbai earlier in the season with a comfortable 3-1 win at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Goa in the Hero I-League. Goals from Jaison Vales, Bikash Jairu and skipper Rocus Lamare helped Salgaocar leapfrog their visitors into 4th place in the I-League table.

Both managers made four changes each to their respective sides as Derrick Pereira brought in Jaison Vales, Brian Mascerenhas, Francis Kasonde and Augustine Fernandes in place of Gurjinder Kumar, Leny Pereira, Sanju Pradhan and Khaled Baleid.

Khalid Jamil replaced Nidhin Lal with Kunal Sawant in goal as Josimar returned after serving a ban in place of veteran Abhishek Yadav. Sampath Kutty Mani who was sent off in the last game, was replaced by Pradeep Mohanraj in midfield as Mohammed Rafi came in place of Dean Pereira for the Mumbai side.

The game got off to the worst possible start for the visitors as a brilliant piece of work on the right from Gilbert Oliveira set up Bikash Jairu for a shot which was blocked by the Mumbai FC right back Rahul Bheke only for the rebound to fall kindly for Jaison Vales who made no mistake in slotting it home from close range to put Salgaocar in front.

The goal handed the momentum to the home side who had the larger share of possession in the opening periods as Mumbai struggled to create openings when they had the ball.

Mumbai conjured up their first real chance in the 18th minute when Rahul Bheke picked out Josimar Da Silva with a cross, but the Brazilian could only manage to head it straight to Subrata Paul in the Salgaocar goal.

A minute later, Salgaocar very nearly doubled their tally when Jaison vales was once again at the end of a rebound, but this time he failed to keep his effort on target as his shot sailed wide.

Mumbai FC were rocked with an injury to their midfield maestro Taisuke Matsugae as a hamstring trouble saw him substituted in the 23rd minute and replaced by Milagres Gonsalves. It was a positive change from Jamil as he searched an equalizing goal.

Douhou Pierre did brilliantly in the 38th minute, to ease past Chika Wali on the flank and set up Jaison Vales who failed to gauge the flight of the cross and the chance went begging for the hosts.

Deep into three stoppage time minutes, Salgaocar doubled their lead when Vales’ attempt from a Mundampara cross was saved by Kunal Sawant initially but Jaison Vales showed great awareness when squared Bikash Jairu with a chipped pass off the rebound as Jairu headed past Kunal Sawant who punched the ball clear but the ball had already crossed the line as Salgaocar went into the break with a 2-0 lead.

Mumbai FC started the second period with a lot more purpose and gave the Salgaocar defence some problems. Francic Kasonde’s was booked for bundling Josimar Da Silva over in the 51st minute.

Mumbai FC were unfortunate not to have halved the deficit in the 59th minute when Mohammed Rafi’s shot came off the upright after goalkeeper Subrata Paul was completely beaten.

But four minutes later, Salgaocar won a penalty after Allan Dias seemed to have handled a cross from Nicalou in the 63rd minute. Skipper Rocus lamare stepped up and scored sending Kunal Sawant the other way to put the game beyond the visitors in the 64th minute.

Mumbai FC threw on Cletus Paul in place of Pradeep Mohanraj in the 82nd minute, to rescue something from the game. Salgaocar responded by bringing on Khaled Baleid in place of the goal scorer Jaison Vales three minutes later.

Mumbai FC did manage to grab a consolation when Milagres Gonsalves headed home from a Mohammed Rafi corner in the third minute of added time to make it 3-1.

But there was no further damage for Salgaocar as the referee blew for full time to give Salgaocar all three points on a comfortable afternoon in Fatorda.

The win lifted Salgaocar over to the 4th place ahead of Royal Wahingoh on goal difference who play Pune FC tomorrow. The defeat ended Mumbai FC’s six game unbeaten run and saw them drop to seventh place with twelve points in ten games for the Mumbai side.