KOLKATA: Mumbai City FC went atop the Indian Super League (ISL) table after they came from behind to hold hosts Jamshedpur FC to a 1-1 draw at JRD Tata Complex in Jamshedpur on Friday.
After a goalless first half, Khalid Jamil's men took the lead in the 60th minute through Javi Siverio. But they couldn't hold on to the lead for too long as Lallianzuala Chhangte equalized for the visitors in the 74th minute. The one point helped the Islanders go past Odisha on the top of the table as they currently have 36 points from 18 matches, one more than the Kalinga Warriors. As for JFC, they rose to sixth on the table with 21 points from 19 matches.
However, the bigger concern for JFC at the moment is that according to sources Mumbai are in the process of filing a complaint against them for having six Indian players instead of seven on the field after Imran Khan was replaced by Alen Stevanovic following the sending off of Daniel Chima Chukwu in the 82nd minute.
Coming back to the game, Siverio did brilliantly to put Jamshedpur in the lead. After receiving the ball from the middle, Mohammed Sanan played it to Muhammad Uvais, who made the overlapping run on the left. Uvais entered the box and played the ball towards the near post where Siverio got a touch on the ball and put it past the Mumbai goalkeeper into the net near the far post.
Seven minutes later Mumbai had a great chance to equalize following their fifth corner of the match. Thaer Krouma played the ball from the left and three Mumbai players went for it. Vikram Pratap Singh got a heavy touch on the ball to sky it from just outside the six-yard box.
The miss wasn't too costly though, as Vikram chipped the ball down the right flank seven minutes later from which Chhangte scored. He timed the run perfectly to beat the offside trap and then put the ball into the net at the far post with his left foot past Jamshedpur goalkeeper TP Rehenesh.
Earlier, the action shifted from one end to the other at the blink of an eye. While the duo of Imran Khan and Sanan wreaked havoc in the Mumbai half, it was Chhangte who kept Rehenesh busy in front of the Jamshedpur goal.
Rehenesh not only denied him on more than one occasion, but he also kept out a shot towards the end of the first half from Vikram. He had chipped the ball over a defender towards the goal but Rehenesh got his fingertips on it and the ball hit the crossbar before going out.
Despite his good show, his defences were finally breached in the second half but the good thing is Jamshedpur are still in the running to seal the final playoff spot.
