Mumbai City FC came up with a performance worthy of a champion to crush Odisha FC 4-1 in a Hero ISL match at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Fatorda on Sunday.
Braces from Igor Angulo (41 & 70) and Bipin Singh (47 & 73) enabled Mumbai to climb from sixth place to fourth in the table. Odisha continues to be at the seventh spot.
‘Overlooked’ mistakes
It was a clinical performance from Mumbai which dominated from the kick-off. The Islanders were somewhat unlucky at the start as the referee ‘overlooked’ two mistakes from the Odisha defence which could have resulted in penalties. But Odisha, after its cagey start, sparked into life midway through the first half and for a brief while held the aces.
Odisha created its first genuine chance in the 34th minute when a thunderous volley from Jerry Mawihmingthanga was punched out by Mumbai goalkeeper Nawaz. A few minutes later, Mandar Desai intercepted a fine cross intended for Jerry and cleared it before the striker could do any damage.
Mumbai struck against the run of play in the 41st minute through Angulo whose clinical header from a long cross from Rahul Bheke broke the Odisha fightback.
The trend continued in the second half as Bipin struck in the 47th minute, punishing the Odisha defence for its sloppiness. Ahmed Johouh stole the ball from a tentative Odisha player, from just outside the box, and teed off Bipin, who moved into the box from left and crashed an angular shot into the net.
10th goal of the season
Angulo struck again in the 70th minute as he collected a through pass from Bipin and wrong-footed his challenger to score his 10th goal of the season. Bipin gave finishing touches to a Cassinho cut back from the byline to complete the rout in the 72nd minute. Jonathas struck a consolation goal for Odisha from a long ranger in the 90th minute.
The results: Mumbai City FC 4 (Angulo 41, 70 & and Bipin 47, 73) bt Odisha FC 1 (Jonathas 90).
Monday’s match: Kerala Blasters vs. East Bengal, 7.30p.m.
