Minchol Son headed home the winner for the hosts after Penn Orji drew level for the visitors.
Steven Dias scored a spectacular free-kick and assisted another goal to help Mumbai FC beat Shillong Lajong in their I-League encounter at the Cooperage Stadium here on Sunday.
Minchol Son headed home the winner for the hosts after Penn Orji drew level for the visitors. With the win, Mumbai leapfrogged Shillong in the standings and are now placed seventh.
Mumbai, knowing that they needed a win at any cost, started on an offensive note, trying to feed the strikers by playing long balls from the midfield. In the 38th minute, Nigerian Penn Orji of Shillong carried the ball from the half-line, outfoxed defender Son, and took a shot that stunned the Mumbai goalkeeper Kunal Sawant. However, Sawant did well to keep it away. In the next minute, Orji set up Pena with a similar move, but the latter miscued a shot and the goalkeeper had an easy collection.
Dias broke the deadlock in the 41st minute with a curling free-kick, which has become his trademark over the years. The 32-year-old Mumbaikar stepped up to take the free-kick after a foul just outside the box. Seeing the wall was a bit too much to the left and the goalkeeper was positioned at the right post, Dias curled his kick to the left bracket.
After the lemon break, it was the visitors who controlled majority of the possession, and Orji in particular seemed threatening. In the 54th minute, Orji cut into the box but Anwar Ali stuck his leg out, and the referee called for a spot kick. Penn sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and found the bottom left of the net.
Son saved Mumbai the blues in the 86th minute, when his header was too powerful for goalkeeper Vishal Kaith who could only manage to get a hand to it.Mumbai the blues in the 86th minute, when his header was too powerful for goalkeeper Vishal Kaith who could only manage to get a hand to it.
Stopwatch: Mumbai FC 2 (S Dias 41, M Son 86) bt Shillong Lajong 1 (Penn 56)
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 "Mumbai FC v/s Shillong Lajong")
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