Panjim: Des Buckingham’s Mumbai City FC attained a top four finish by Mario Rivera’s SC East Bengal in with a 1-0 win in the Indian Super League at Fatorda Stadium.Bipin Singh scored the only goal separating the sides. With the victory, Mumbai upped their position at the fourth with 26 points while SC East Bengal stay cemented at the 11th itself.
The Red and Gold brigade had the first chance of the game from a Fran Sota corner which was headed on target by Lalrinliana Hnamte but Mohammad Nawaz produced a smart save to deny the youngster in the 8th minute.
Mumbai City FC had their first sniff of the aim in the sixteenth minute when Igor Angulo received on the cease of a lengthy throw-in and shot from a tight angle. But he could only discover the aspect netting.
Igor Angulo could have opened the scoring for @MumbaiCityFC! 👀
Watch the #MCFCSCEB game live on @DisneyPlusHS – https://t.co/ss420mKbwy and @OfficialJioTV
Live Updates: https://t.co/NLlk6GsEcx#HeroISL #LetsFootball #MumbaiCityFC pic.twitter.com/zMvzhPLThy
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) February 22, 2022
Eleven minutes later, SC East Bengal opened up the Mumbai City FC defence with a flowing pass that saw Mahesh Naorem Singh launch Thongkhosiem Haokip through on purpose but the ahead lost his footing at the quintessential juncture. The referee waved away any appeals for a penalty as Mumbai City FC escaped.
Both the teams went into the break with a dead lock.
Coming from it,Mumbai City FC although managed to make the breakthrough just six minutes into the interval when Bipin who was once allowed to run at the SC East Bengal defence found the backside nook with a left-footed shot from outdoor the area.
51' GOOOAALLLLL ⚽️ | #MCFCSCEB @brad_inman8 plays the ball to @bipin_thounajam, who cuts inside and fires his shot past the keeper to give @MumbaiCityFC the lead! 🔥
MCFC 1-0 SCEB#HeroISL #LetsFootball
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) February 22, 2022
The Islanders almost doubled their lead in the 72nd minute when Haokip in an strive to clear a Mumbai City FC nook kick, nearly ended up placing it in his very own net.
SC East Bengal then ignored a sequence of golden chances ten minutes from time. Nawaz denied the Red and Gold brigade with a retailer from shut range earlier than Sota volleyed the loose ball over the target.
Then it used to be the Islanders’ chance to squander an probability at the other stop when Cassio Gabriel who was through on intention determined to chip the goalkeeper only to see it waft over the goal in the 83rd minute.
Mumbai City FC had to continue to face some checking out set-pieces from SC East Bengal in the final exchanges however they held on to gather three essential points in the race for the semi-finals.
5️⃣ Saves
3️⃣ Punches
2️⃣ Catches
✅ Clean sheet@nawaz_nao put up a brilliant performance for @MumbaiCityFC against @sc_eastbengal tonight! 👏#MCFCSCEB #HeroISL #LetsFootball #MumbaiCityFC #MohammadNawaz pic.twitter.com/xj6Lsigw8y— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) February 22, 2022
The Islanders will be seen in action again on 26th of February against FC Goa , while the Red and Gold Brigade will be taking on Khalid Jamil’s North East United two days later.
The play off stages for the eight edition of the Indian Super League are set to commence from 11th of March while the final showdown is set to take place on March 20.
