Press Trust of India
Mumbai, Oct 7: Captain and marquee player Diego Forlan led from the front as hosts Mumbai City FC defeated NorthEast United FC (NEUFC) 1-0 in their ISL-3 encounter at the Mumbai Football Arena here Friday. This was NEUFC’s first defeat in three games while Mumbai won their second consecutive match having beaten FC Pune City in the Maharashtra Derby.
Forlan scored the only goal of the match in the 55th minute from a penalty. Mumbai midfielder Pronoy Haldar was brought down inside the box by Regan Singh and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Forlan stepped and coolly beat Subrata Paul to his left to ensure full points for the hosts.
Forced to play matches in quick succession, NEUFC coach Nelo Vingada needed to do some reshuffling with the starting XI and he chose to begin with marquee Didier Zokoro for the first time and also gave the nod to the likes of Seityasen Singh and Argentinean striker Nicolas Velez.
Mumbai City coach Alexandre Guimaraes however, kept his faith in the same squad that logged full points in the opener.
In the first 45 minutes it was NEUFC who had the upper hand. They got their first chance with Koffi N’Dri having a clear look at the opposition goal. But his shot was easily saved by Mumbai goalkeeper Roberto Neto.
However, the best chance of the half fell for Katsumi Yusa of NEUFC. However, he shot over the bar with only the rival custodian to beat from hand-shaking distance.
