Pune: Mumbai FC sprung a surprise as they shocked East Bengal 3-2 in their I-League round 12 match here on Monday.
Afghan midfielder Ahmad Hatife had the East Bengal defence in tatters when he scored Mumbai FC’s second goal before picking up a second yellow card of the match to reduce his team to 10 men.
Hatife scored in the 37th minute after East Bengal had equalised Yusif Yakubu’s second minute opener through Cavin Lobo (32nd), before NP Pradeep gave Mumbai coach Khalid Jamil enough reasons to celebrate with his 65th minute strike, which took the score to 3-1.
Ryuji Sueoka scored for East Bengal three minutes from the close, but that was too late in the day.
The win helped Mumbai FC climb one spot above Mohun Bagan to 10th position in the I-League table after 11 matches. East Bengal are just above Mumbai FC at ninth spot with 11 points but with a better goal difference and three matches in hand.
The match was important further afield as Mumbai were in the sights of Rangdajied United FC, who were with the Mumbaikars on points after their thrilling 2-0 win over Mohun Bagan on Sunday.
Soon after the match kicked off, Yakubu scored one of the fastest goals of the League by netting the ball into the bottom right corner of East Bengal goal.
Lobo drove through the middle in the 32nd minute, beating two defenders before shooting a low cross that beat Mumbai goalkeeper Nidhin Lal all ends up.
Five minutes later, Ghanaian striker Yakubu ran amok after he got the ball on the right. He moved ahead unchallenged for 25 yards before sending a pass to Hatifie, who directed the ball into the goal. The ball hit inside of the upright before settling into the net.
After 20 minutes of tough fighting in the second half, Mumbai delivered yet another blow when Pradeep headed in a Nicholas Rodrigues shot for 3-1 lead.
East Bengal tried every trick to get Mumbai FC on the defensive but Jamil’s men stood tall.
Sueoka finally found a gap and scored in the 87th minute with a close range header, but it was too late to overhaul the deficit, leaving Armando Colaco, who recently joined EB after the club parted ways with Brazilian Marcos Falopa, scratching his head after a match that his team should have won on any other day.
Mumbai had, surprisingly, not won any of their eight previous home games this season and the Kolkata giants would have been confident going into this encounter, which somehow went the other way. (PTI)
