Adam Le Fondre's brace helps Mumbai City rout East Bengal in their third match...
Mumbai City outclassed East Bengal in their third Indian Super League (ISL) match of the season on Tuesday at the GMC Stadium, Bambolim.
Adam Le Fondre scored a brace (20', 48) and Hernan Santana (58') was also on target as the Islanders cruised past the Kolkata giants.
Sergio Lobera made four changes to the Mumbai City line-up which defeated FC Goa 1-0 in their last match. Mohammed Rakip, Bipin Singh, Ahmed Jahouh and Vignesh D, replaced Amay Ranawade, Sarthak Golui, Cy Goddard and Farukh Choudhary.
Robbie Fowler, on the other hand, replaced two players from the East Bengal lineup from the Kolkata derby as Loken Meitei and Rana Gharami made way for Mohammad Irshad and Wahengbang Angousana.
The Red and Golds received an early blow when skipper and central defender Danny Fox had to leave the pitch after a clash with Adam Le Fondre after both players contested for the ball in the air. Fowler brought in central midfielder Mohammed Rafique and tweaked the formation from 3-4-3 to 4-3-3.
Mumbai were in control of the game right from the off and commanded the proceedings. They got their first chance to score in the ninth minute when Mandar Rao Dessai took advantage of Surchandra's mistake on the right side of the box and found Le Fondre who set it up for Hugo Boumous to fire. A good save from Debjit Majumder meant that Boumous failed to break the deadlock.
The Islanders finally scored the opening goal in the 20th minute from an excellent counter-attack. Rowllin Borges sent a long ball for Boumous who first beat Surchandra using his pace and then went past Irshad inside the box before squaring the ball for Le Fondre who tapped the ball into the net.
The Red and Golds never looked comfortable with the ball in the first half and their defence was shaky which allowed Mumbai to constantly push forward for a second goal.
Mumbai picked up things from where they had left in the first half and continued to dominate after the restart. They scored the second goal in the 48th minute of the match from a penalty.
Boumous followed a through ball down the middle from Jahouh and entered the box but before he could pull the trigger, Majumder came out of his line and committed a foul. Adam Le Fondre completed his brace with a neat spot-kick.
The Islanders piled more misery on the Red and Golds in the 58th minute. Ahmed Jahouh's excellent free-kick was kept in play by Boumous on the right side of the box. Boumous crossed for Hernan Santana who sent the ball into the net.
Mumbai climbed to the top of the league table with six points from three games while East Bengal are at the bottom of the table without a point.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com