I-League 2015/16: Ten-man Mumbai hold Sporting in entertaining draw

Starting Line-ups:

Mumbai FC: Nandy (GK), Ashutosh, Pratik, Clyde, Caldeira, Steven Dias, Mirza, NP Pradeep (C), Kozawa, Sushil, Brown

Sporting Clube de Goa: Arindam (GK), Wadoo, Loveday, Ravanan, Fulganco, Denson, Pratesh, Odafa (C), Nicholas, Ganesh, Mahmoud

After a good start to the season, Mumbai FC’s campaign had gone downhill with three defeats and a draw in their last four matches. With the team struggling, coach Khalid Jamil opted for a much-changed line-up against Sporting with veteran goalkeeper Sandip Nandy replacing Pawan Kumar in the goal. Ashutosh Mehta, Darren Caldeira, Rohit Mirza and NP Pradeep also made their way into the XI with Asif Kottayil, Allan Dias, Anwar Ali and Jayesh Rane making way for them.

On the other hand, Sporting have been on good run off late winning two and drawing one of their last four matches to move into the fourth position in the table. Although a defeat at the den of the champions Mohun Bagan last week curtailed their good run, coach Mateus Costa opted to keep faith most of the XI with only midfield dynamo Densil Theobald missing out with an injury. Syrian medio Mahmoud Al Amnah returned from injury to take his place in the team while Pratesh Shirodkar replaced Glan Martins.

A high-scoring encounter was predicted at the Cooperage after the last match between the two teams produced a 3-2 win for Sporting and it came true within minutes into the match with Sporting taking the lead. Mahmoud Al Amnah opened the scoring on his return from the long lay-off for the Goan team in the sixth minute after Odafa found him in the box with a beautiful pass. The Syrian made no mistake and smashed his effort past Nandy in the Mumbai goal to put Sporting in the lead.

The away side’s lead only lasted 12 minutes after Japanese striker Ryuki Kozawa levelled things up in the 18th minute. Skipper NP Pradeep found the forward with a peach of a ball from midfield and Kozawa calmly lobbed the ball above Arindam in the Sporting goal to put the home side back in the match. However, things didn’t get better for Mumbai on the other side of the field after goalkeeper Sandy Nandy was forced off the field with an injury. Pawan Kumar replaced Nandy, who was just signed last week, in the 25th minute with the veteran goalkeeper not being able to continue.

Things went from bad to worse for the home side before the break, after captain NP Pradeep received marching orders from the referee. Pradeep, who was already booked for a foul earlier in the match, received his second caution for a high challenge to put Mumbai down to ten men.

Mumbai coach Khalid Jamil introduced Jayesh Rane in place of Rohit Mirza for the second half and it worked perfectly as the substitute put the home side in front in the 53rd minute. Jayesh bursts down the left and ran into the box to in search of space to curl in a cross, but the forward took everyone by surprise and slotted the ball between the legs of the goalkeeper to send the home fans into celebration.

Similar to the story in the first half, it was all level very quickly as another substitute made it 2-2 at the Cooperage. Goalkeeper Pawan Kumar opted to come off his line to stop a run from Prathesh Shirodkar, but the custodian’s calculation went horribly wrong as Shirodkar squared it to Victorino Fernandes for an easy tap into an empty goal. Although chances continued to flow for both sides till the last minute, none of the players made it count as the match ended 2-2 with the points being shared.