ISL 2015: Chhetri shines again as Mumbai gun down league leaders Goa

It was the visitors who looked sharper to start with. Goa's first chance arrived in the eighth minute of the match when a dangerous corner from Leo Moura was flicked on by Raju Gaikwad, but Victorino Fernandes failed to hit the target with his header.

The Blue Devils were denied couple of penalty shouts – first when Frederic Piquionne was brought down in the box by Gregory Arnolin, while defending a corner, and then couple of minutes later when Gabriel Fernandes went down under a challenge by Narayan Das.

But in the 19th minute the referee finally awarded them with a penalty as Piquionne was pulled down by Raju, as the Frenchman was about to head in an inch-perfect cross from Gabriel. The right back was lucky to receive just a yellow card as he denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Goa wasn't as lucky though, as Sunil Chhetri stepped up and converted from the spot, rattling the left bottom corner of the net in the process.

The Indian international came close to doubling the lead in the 38th minute as Ashutosh Mehta found him with a throw-in and the forward eased past Pronay Halder to hit a curling left-footed volley. Laxmikant Kattimani produced an equally good save though, as he dived to his right and tipped it away.

Mumbai went into the half-time break with a 1-0 lead over Goa and Zico had a lot to think about.

The home side stretched their lead at the start of the second half, when Piquionne found the back of the net. The striker scored with a diving header, after Juan Aguilera picked him out with a lovely cross from the left wing. Incidentally, this was the 50th goal scored of ISL 2015.

Zico had seen enough and he brought on Mandar Rao Desai and Joffre – two wide attackers — to replace Bikramjit Singh and Pronay Halder – two central midfielders – as he looked to stretch the Mumbai defense.

The changes almost made an immediate impact with Victorino finding space between the Mumbai central defenders, Pavel Cmovs and Darren O'Dea, and Leo Moura splitting the back-four with a great through ball. However, the 26-year-old could not keep his shot down and missed a golden opportunity to pull one back.

Subrata Paul, in the Mumbai goal, made another crucial save, this time with Leo Moura testing him from distance. Despite throwing everything they had, Goa failed to break down a stubborn Mumbai defense and the match ended in a 2-0 win for the men in blue.

This was Goa's second loss this season and Zico would be worried about the fact that his team has now conceded eight goals in their last four games. The change in tactics from an attacking 4-3-3 to a more conservative 4-3-1-2 hasn't worked well, and they were even lucky to win their last match against Kerala Blasters. The Brazilian manager needs to bring back his wide players, Mandar and Romeo Fernandes, to the starting line-up for the next game.

Mumbai are currently level on points with Atletico de Kolkata and have turned around their poor start to the season with two back-to-back wins. Moreover, the back-four has now kept two clean-sheets in a row, while the high profile attack, which was gathered in the summer, is finally realizing its full potential. Anelka and his men will go into their next game, against NorthEast United, high on confidence.