Former Indian Super League champions Mumbai City FC (MCFC) overcame early hiccups to beat the Indian Navy 4-1 of their opening Durand Cup match on the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday.
A two-goal blitz rather than Lallianzuala Chhangte (89th, 90+1th) within the area of two minutes after targets from Vikram Pratap Singh (45+4th) and Greg Stewart (sixty fifth) gave the islanders full factors from Group B. The star-studded Mumbai outfit dominated however fell brief within the early end because the Indian Navy took the lead towards a strike-off play from Adarsh Mattumal (forty third). Navy’s veteran goalkeeper-cum-captain Velutha Kulathil Vishnu stood agency beneath the bar and made some high quality saves to maintain the ISL heavyweight at bay.
In the top, Des Buckingham’s aspect acquired the much-needed breakthrough in damage time within the first half when Vikram scored a high quality run contained in the field from the suitable aspect and equalized with a pointy angle simply past Vishnu’s attain. Scottish striker Stewart, the ‘hero’ of the final ISL season for Jamshedpur FC, then opened his account at MCFC, giving them the lead after the one-hour mark along with his signature cool-headed end.
Spanish media earned a penalty after Alberto Noguera was introduced down contained in the field by rival defender Abhishek Joshi as Stewart put him ahead. Coming off the bench within the second half, Chhangte once more modified the colour of the match along with his attacking intent.
Making amends for his omission within the seventy fifth minute, Chhangte slammed the ball into the far nook to make it 3-1 simply earlier than the sport’s regulation time.
He then used Gurkeerat Singh’s assist to finish within the final minute to present MCFC a simple win.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
