I-League 2015/16: Douhou Pierre strike wins Maharashtra derby for DSK as Mumbai’s unbeaten run ends

Amlan Majumdar

ByAmlan Majumdar, SportsCafe Editor

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DSK Shivajians' wait for a goal of more than 360 minutes ended on Sunday, when Ivorian midfielder Douhou Pierre created a leak in the Mumbai FC armoury to score the first goal for the Pune club in the I-League and to end the away side’s five-match unbeaten run at the Balewadi stadium in Pune.

Starting Lineups:

DSK Shivajians: Subrata (GK) (c), Surchandra, Thorat, Adnaik, Molnagiri, Don Bosco, Israil, Douhou, Amiri, Rafi, Stephen.

Mumbai FC: Pawan (GK), Srikanth, Pratik, Son, Ashutosh, Malem, Taisuke(C), Arata, Eric, Kozawa, Sushil.

Languishing at the bottom of the table with one point from four games and drawing a blank in the goal-scored column, DSK Shivajians coach Derrick Pereira went for drastic changes making five changes to the side that lost away against defending champions Mohun Bagan. Surchandra, Thorat, Molnagiri, Don Bosco and Israil Gurung came in for Indrajeet, Zohmingliana, Milan, Lalhmangaihsanga and Cameroonian striker Aser Pierrick Dipanda.

On the other hand, Mumbai FC went into the Maharashtra derby after upsetting title favourites Bengaluru FC in their last match. Coach Khalid Jamil chose not to tinker too much with the side that has been unbeaten in the league. With Jayesh Rane away on international duty with the Indian U-23 squad, Malemngamba Meetei came in for him to keep the 4-2-3-1 formation intact.

Two back-to-back corners for the away side started what were frantic opening minutes for the home side. With headers going wide of the goal, DSK breathed a sigh of relief and pushed forward in search of their first goal of the season. Douhou Pierre dictated the passage of the play from there on releasing Israil Gurung on the right flank to cause problems in the Mumbai defence.

A brilliant bit of football at both ends of the ground in the next minute opened the gate for the home side’s first goal in the league. Arata Izumi and Kozawa exchanged a quick one-two between each other to put the former with a chance for a goal, but Izumi’s shot was expertly kept out by Subrata Paul, who threw the ball to Surchandra Singh to start a counter attack. The Manipur midfielder put Douhou Pierre to run at the defence, and the Ivorian muscled his way to finish the goal from the edge of the six-yard box.

With the goal under their belt, DSK looked a totally different side by pushing their wingers through the flanks to fly balls into Mohammed Rafi at the top. Realising the home team’s fast paced game, coach Khalid Jamil instructed his boys to slow down the game to make their way back into the match. The tactic looked like working for a brief time, but DSK kept their grip on the game till the end of the half by stinging Pawan Kumar’s hands.

DSK came out as a different side for the second half and opted to protect their lead than going for another goal to put the match to bed. The tactic from the home side brought attack after attack from Mumbai FC with DSK’s midfield nonexistent. Eric Brown tested Subrata Paul twice in a minute with long range shots to assert the away side’s attacking intent. With all the attacking play Mumbai had in the second half, they never created any clear cut chance to beat the Pune side’s custodian.

Coach Khalid Jamil pushed his team forward in the search of an equaliser in the last ten minutes, only to see the home side’s defence standing tall against all the attacks from Mumbai. DSK held their nerves in the final few minutes to see off Mumbai FC to register their first win of the season.  

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