Jamshedpur FC beat Mumbai City FC 3-2 in a dramatic Hero Indian Super League (ISL) encounter on Thursday at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, Goa to give a major boost to their semi-final hopes.

The Men of Steel took a two-goal lead in the first half but Mumbai City came back in the second half scoring twice. They got two penalties and from one of them, Diego Mauricio netted the equaliser. But in the 93rd minute, Jamshedpur received a spot-kick and Greg Stewart stepped up to bag the winning goal.

Owen Coyle’s side were at it from the word go. They had a chance to take the lead as early as in the first minute of the game when Ricky Lallawmawma delivered an excellent cross for Boris Singh inside who headed it onto the crossbar.

Just eight minutes later, Jamshedpur FC took the lead after flowing move comprising of one-touch passes from Jitendra and Boris who found Ritwik who then superbly set the ball in Stewart's path with a clever back heel. The Scottish International made no mistake and scored an absolutely stunning goal as he found the bottom corner with a calm finish.

In the 13th minute of the game Islanders' defensive midfielder Ahmed Jahouh had a crack at goal as he found himself in a bit of space inside the box but his shot was off target.

The Islanders were forced into an early change when Jahouh pulled his hamstring as he tried to stop a JFC player on the left flank, with Vinit Rai replacing him.

Jamshedpur FC continued to carry a threat on the counter-attack and got their second goal in the 30th minute when Boris Singh provided a defense splitting through ball to Chima, the Nigerian forward squared the ball back to Das who tapped the ball into the net to double their lead. 

Des Buckingham’s side thought they had halved the deficit in the 39th minute when Chhangte scored a goal but unfortunately, that goal got ruled out due to a handball. The Islanders grew a bit frustrated as the half wore on as the Coyle’s men were able to preserve their 2-0 lead going into half-time.

Buckingham replaced Mandar Desai and Vinit Rai with Vignesh Dakshinamurthy and Bradden Inman for the second half. The Islanders stepped up the intensity in the second half but Jamshedpur FC’s resolute defense were able to deal with the problems Buckingham’s men were causing them.

The Islanders who continued to dominate the ball were eventually rewarded in the 57th minute when Igor Angulo received a through ball inside the box and he took a shot on goal but JFC goalkeeper Rehenesh pushed out the danger. Mumbai City FC player Rahul Beke was there inside the box as the ball to poke home the rebound and make it 2-1.

Coyle responded with a triple substitution bringing in Mobashir Rahman, Jordan Murray, and Seminlen Doungel.

But just two minutes later after making the substitution, Jamshedpur FC conceded a penalty when Peter Hartley fouled Morutada Fall inside their box. Last year's Golden boot winner Igor Angulo took the penalty but Rehenesh made a brilliant save and denied Angulo the equaliser.

However, Mumbai City FC got another chance of scoring the equaliser when they were awarded another penalty in the 85th minute but this time the Islanders forward Diego Maurício made no mistakes and scored from the penalty spot which brought his team back into the game.

But just before the full-time whistle, there was the third penalty of the game which went in favor of Jamshedpur FC. The Scottish player Stewart took the spot-kick and gave the all-important lead back to his team.

This win lifted Coyle’s men into third place, just one point behind leaders Hyderabad FC. As for Mumbai City FC, this defeat meant they stayed fifth in the table.

The Men of Steel take on Chennaiyin FC on Sunday. As for Buckingham’s side, they face SC East Bengal on Tuesday.

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Jamshedpur FCMumbai City FC 2021-2022Match ReportMatch 67, Jamshedpur FC vs Mumbai City FC - 2021