Mumbai City FC went top of the 2016 Hero Indian Super League after beating NorthEast United FC in front of almost 30,000 fans at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday evening. Jackichand Singh’s goal at the stroke of halt-time proved to be the difference between the two sides. Mumbai head coach Alexandre Guimaraes was pleased as punch in the wake of the win.

“I think we deserved the win…A big thank you to the north-east people. The first 15 minutes, we created great opportunities. Then the game stabilized and they also created some good chances, and Albino Gomes did very well. Even in the second half we had our chances. We are happy to get three away points, which is tough at a place like NorthEast. This win makes up for the draw against Chennaiyin in our last game, so this is very good for us,” Guimaraes told reporters after his team registered their fourth win in nine matches.

Mumbai goalkeeper Albino Gomes had a great day at the office and denied Emiliano Alfaro through a brilliant save in the first half. Soon Mumbai will be spoilt for choice in the goalkeeping department as Amrinder Singh is expected to be back from participation in the AFC Cup. Mumbai then will have three top goalkeepers – Gomes, Amrinder and Roberto Volpato - to choose from. When asked if it was a good headache to have, Guimaraes said: “No, I don’t have any headache. As you can see from the game today we have a lot of depth in our team. I am very glad the way Albino is performing. He has proved that he is a young goalkeeper with a future in front of him.”

The Costa Rican also shed light on his decision to bring on Sehnaj Singh in place of Anwar Ali. “We had a situation with Anwar who played well in the first half but had a little pain. We could not leave anything to chance playing against this team with the joint top-scorer [Emilian Alfaro] of the league. So I didn’t have to think twice. We need to have players on the bench, who are ready to come on anytime,” he said.

Mumbai now host Maharashtra rivals FC Pune City on November 10.