For the second time inside four days, there was heartbreak for Kerala Blasters. The men from Kochi went down 2-1 to Mumbai City at the GMC Stadium, Bambolim (Goa), on Wednesday night.
There may well have been a sense of deja vu for them; in the previous match, they had gone 2-0 ahead before losing 3-2 to ATK Mohun Bagan. They remain on 15 points and third from the bottom, while Mumbai is sitting pretty on top of the ISL table with 33 points, six ahead of ATK.
After Vincente Gomez’s goal put Blasters in front in the first half, Bipin Singh and Adam Le Fondre, from the penalty spot, scored for Mumbai.
Dramatic start
The game started dramatically, with Blasters winning a corner kick in the opening minute. Before long though, the action moved to the other end of the field, with Mumbai putting considerable pressure on the Blasters defence.
Hugo Boumous and Le Fondre combined beautifully to create chances for Mumbai.
A superb corner-kick from Sahal Abdul Samad enabled Gomez to come up with a perfect header to beat Mumbai’s hard-working custodian Amrinder Singh for once. That goal separated the teams till the end of the first half that produced some delightful end-to-end football.
But just 20 seconds into the second half, Mumbai equalised.
Bipin Singh did well to score off a deflection from Costa Nhamoinesu, who had come in the way of Cy Goddard’s attempt. Twentyone minutes later, Mumbai went ahead, as Le Fondre converted the penalty awarded for the charge on him by Costa.
The result: Kerala Blasters 1 (Vincente Gomez 27) lost to Mumbai City 2 (Bipin Singh 46, Adam Le Fondre 67-pen).
Thursday’s match: NEUFC vs FC Goa, 7.30 p.m.
