The great escape continues as Mumbai FC defeat Shillong Lajong 2-1

by Balbir Singh April 18, 2016

Mumbai FC hosted Shillong Lajong at Cooperage, Mumbai on Sunday evening, 17 April 2016 in a battle to avoid relegation. Mumbai FC took a mammoth step after clinching a narrow 2-1 win over Meghalaya outfit Shillong Lajong with a late 87th winner from Minchol Son helping the hosts secure maximum points; Steven Dias gave the home-team the lead deep into the first-half, but Fabio Henrique Pena’s strike from the spot level-up the scoring around the 60th minute mark.

Mumbai FC having collected 8 points from their opening 4 games in the I-League 2015-16 season, went-on to collect a slender 5 points in the next-10 games. The home-team – winless in their 10 games – needed at least 4 points from an available 6 coming into the game against Shillong Lajong.

The opening 5 minutes of the first-half saw both sides share a hatful of chances; as the hosts created a better set of opportunities, coming close from a half-chance to Steven Dias. Throughout the first-45 minutes, the two teams struggled to get an upper-hand and control in the midfield area, dominating the area in patches. While, Mumbai FC were being increasing frustrating from the chances created; failing to convert the two big chances, first, Taisuke Matsugae misfired his shot after a darting run through the middle, and second, Eric Brown’s volleyed attempt to the near-post was saved by Vishal Kaith in-goal for Shillong Lajong.

Mumbai FC were presented with more time on the ball; penetrating between the lines expertly, at times with good interchange play from the midfield pairing of captain Taisuke Matsugae and Hitesh Sharma helping exploit the gaps in-between Shillong Lajong’s attack, midfield and defence.

By the time the first-half crossed its midway point, neither side assured real dominance in the final-third area. Mumbai FC were depended on attacking through the middle, where they had a 3 versus 2 situation. Whereas, Shillong Lajong approached their attacks in a more direct sense with heavy reliability on their two front-men: Fabio Henrique Pena and Penn Ikechuk Wu Orji.

The home team came closer to scoring the game’s opening goal on a hatful of occasions, but marginally missed-out due to lack of incisiveness from the two wide-men, and the lone front-man Shushil Singh looked stretched heavily doing too much in little time.

During a similar transition, where Mumbai FC penetrated between the lines, Eric Brown was needlessly fouled in the middle just outside the 18-yard-box. Steven Dias stepped-up and delivered with a world-class free-kick to give Mumbai FC the lead before the halftime whistle.

Into the second-half, and the away team brought a change in their gameplay with little gaps to exploit, bringing structure in their attack and defence. During a rare spell, which forced Mumbai FC towards their 18-yard-box, a mix-up inside the box resulted in a penalty being awarded to Shillong Lajong, when Anwar Ali tripped Penn Ikechuk Wu Orji. Fabio Henrique Pena sent Kunal Sawant in the wrong direction to level-up the scoring on 58 minutes.

A majority portion of the remaining game saw Mumbai FC and Shillong Lajong produce a series of long-range efforts, which rarely troubled either of the goalkeepers. The hosts introduced Arata Izumi and a much-needed second-striker Ryuki Kozawa to go all-out for the winner, in a match Mumbai FC Coach Khalid Jamil dubbed as “do-or-die situation”, in his pre-match press conference.

Having looked dangerous from set-pieces throughout the match, a flashing header from Minchol Son in the 86th minute gave Mumbai FC a much needed maximum points.