Mumbai FC Go Fourth

Ten men Mumbai FC just about managed to beat Vasco SC in an 18th round I-League encounter at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa.

Vasco SC 1-2 Mumbai FC

This win takes Mumbai FC to fourth spot with 27 points having a three point lead over the now fifth placed Mahindra United.

Vasco SC are still reeling at the bottom and would need a miracle to save themselves from going down.

The home side took the lead after goalkeeper Liyaz Koya committed a foul inside the box and Sherzod Nazarov stepped up to the task and didn’t disappoint.

However, Mumbai FC fought well and quickly equalised. Alex Ambrose, who was handed a rare start alongside Abhishek Yadav, sent in a perfect cross which was headed in by the latter in the 10th minute.

In the second session, a Mumbai FC defender’s header allowed Vasco’s Sherzod Nazarov in a one-on-one position but goalkeeper Liyaz Koya came out to make a crucial tackle and thus was sent-off for the same.

With all three substitutions being used, Coach David Booth asked defender James Dissiramah to play as a makeshift custodian while Abhishek Yadav filled in as a stopperback.

The final 15 minutes saw Mumbai FC doing their best to keep the scoreline intact and even managed to score the winner through Kalia Kulothungan.

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Struggling Mahindra take on Mohammedans in I-League

Mumbai, Feb 21 : A struggling Mahindra United, with just four wins from 15 ties, are hoping to put behind their goal-squandering ways and strike at the opportune time in their I-League match against promoted outfit Mohammedan Sporting here on Saturday.
With just 17 points in their kitty, five of them through drawn encounters, Mahindra need to approach the 16th round match against the Kolkata rivals with their guns blazing and convert the half chances to notch up their fifth victory.

Local side coach Derrick Pereira is confronted with the handicap of not having the services of both K Ajayan and N P Pradeep who will miss the encounter due to injuries.

Mahindra are placed seventh in the league table currently and coach Pereira is aware how important a victory is and for this to happen Mahindras strikers needs to deliver. He is hoping that the home ground advantage is utilised to the full.

It is a crucial game for us and we know that we have to win the game but it will not be easy as Mohammedan have been playing well recently. Playing in our home ground will help our players to get our acts together," he said on the eve of the match.

"Every match is important for us, we always plan and play to get the three points. We somehow have ended up drawing many matches, which we should have won," he rued.

The Mahindra coach is also mulling over changing the attacking strategy against the Mohammedan, who had beaten them in the first-leg encounter in Kolkata, after having drawn the previous two matches in the League.

"We are trying to play according to ground conditions, change our style of play especially in the attacking third against Mohammedan, who are a good fighting young side," Pereira said.

Mahindra had beaten Mohammedan comfortably (4-2) in the group stage of the Federation Cup in their previous face-off.

Striker Mohammad Rafi and goalkeeper Subhashish Chowdhury will be available after missing the last match due to injury, while Senegal's Lamine Tamba, who has served a one-match suspension, will once again figure in the defence for Mahindra.

Mohammedans, too, have not really got going in the League and currently are in the relegation zone, standing 11th out of 12 teams with 10 points in the kitty.

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Dempo face Mahindra in postponed tie

Mumbai, Jan 18: Reigning I-League champions Dempo SC take on former champions Mahindra United in the postponed 10th round match at the Cooperage ground in Mumbai on Monday.

The tie, originally scheduled on November 27 last, had to be put off indefinitely in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror strike the previous night and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) had to reschedule the Phase I match during the course of Phase II.

The lengthy gap in the schedule of the I-League has given both the teams players time to recuperate from earlier injuries and, on the down side, pick up fresh ones too.

Dempo will miss their Congo striker Mboyo Iyomi who has a leg muscle injury. He is to be replaced in the forward line by Joaquim Abranches, according to the Goan teams coach Armando Colaco.

Colaco, talking after his team's practice session on Sunday afternoon, said that his team would be looking out to pick up all three points with a victory against Mahindra and boost their tally from the current 14 from nine games.

READ MORE - Dempo face Mahindra in postponed tie