Mumbai City FC defender Rahul Bheke made the most of goalkeeper Vishal Kaith’s mistake to bring an end to Chennaiyin FC (CFC)’s unbeaten run in the ISL at the Fatorda Stadium in Margao on Wednesday. Ahmed Jahouh whipped in a free-kick from outside the box in the 86th minute and Kaith came off his line in an attempt to thwart the move. The CFC keeper was never going to reach the ball which floated over CFC defenders before Bheke at the far post headed it home.
The goal was enough for Mumbai to beat CFC 1-0 and extend their winning run to four matches. It also helped Mumbai to consolidate their lead at the top. Mumbai now have 15 points from six matches while CFC sit fifth with eight points after five matches.
It wasn’t Kaith’s first mistake of the night. Mumbai could have taken the lead in the eighth minute when a similar error from Kaith opened up an opportunity for Igor Angulo. Amey Ranawade floated in a cross from the right and Kaith mindlessly came rushing out. Angulo beat his marker Slavko Damjanovic to reach the ball first and headed past Kaith before the crossbar saved the goalkeeper’s blushes.
It showed how nervous Chennaiyin were at the start of the match and Mumbai piled on more pressure by playing their trademark attacking game. While Jahouh played numerous passes to spread the game and often found space behind CFC defence to release Cassio Gabriel and Angulo, Gabriel too was relentless as he tried long-rangers, made decent runs into the box and played quick one-twos with the Moroccan.
But the CFC defence manned by Damjanovic and Narayan Das held strong. With both sides playing to their strengths, the onus was on CFC forwards to seize their chances but they were not up for it.
After soaking in the pressure in the first half, CFC soon settled down and brought Mumbai to play to their pace. In fact, CFC emerged as the better side at the start of the second half and could have got their noses ahead in the game with striker Lukasz Gikiewicz missing a few chances.
Gikiewicz found himself in some space inside the six-yard box when Jerry Lalrinzuala directed a cross towards him from the left. But the Polish forward failed to bury the ball home.
But Gikiewicz’s biggest mistake came in the 58th minute. Mumbai goalkeeper Nawaz gave the ball away to Gikiewicz while taking a goal kick but the forward made a mess of the chance. He neither took a shot at goal nor passed the ball to the other forward Lallianzuala Chhangte and his weak effort was easily cleared.
Mumbai had the first shot at goal of the second half in the 62nd minute. With most of their moves being dismantled, Gabriel tried a long-ranger from 35 yards. The ball bounced before Kaith and made the goalkeeper uncomfortable before he managed to parry it away. In the end though it didn’t matter much for Mumbai.
