Mumbai City FC moved to within two points of the top four in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20 standings after a 2-0 win against Bengaluru FC at the Mumbai Football Arena on Friday. Modou Sougou opened the scoring for Mumbai in the first half and Amine Chermiti doubled their lead in the second. This was the first time in Hero ISL history that a team managed to do a league double over the Blues. To recall, the Islanders won the reverse fixture at Sree Kanteerava 3-2.

The hosts took the lead in the 13th minute following a lapse at the back by Bengaluru goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. The Bengaluru custodian came off his line and to the edge of his box to punch a long ball clear of danger. However, Sougou managed to get to the Rowllin Borges pass before Gurpreet and headed it beyond the stranded goalkeeper to make it 1-0 for the Islanders.

A deflected shot by Borges then made its way to Sougou in a good area inside the box in the 21st minute. Sougou produced an attempt on target but Gurpreet made the save this time around. Gurpreet was called into action again in the 35th minute when he parried a strong Diego Carlos shot away for a corner.

Mumbai continued to dominate proceedings and even had the ball in the back of the net a couple of minutes before half time. Subhasish Bose made his way into the box and a headed a cross past the goalkeeper only for the linesman to flag for offside.

At the other end, Sunil Chherti managed to ripple the net on the brink of half time, but he too was flagged offside. Mumbai took their slender 1-0 lead into the break.

The Islanders doubled their lead 10 minutes into the second period after a header back to his goalkeeper by Harmanjot Khabra was intercepted inside the box by Chermiti. The striker produced an unerring finish to make it 2-0 for the home side.

Mohamed Larbi could have added another goal for Mumbai just a minute later but Gurpreet did well on this occasion and made the save.

Bengaluru had a couple of decent chances to pull one back through Chhetri and Udanta Singh as the game entered the final 10 minutes. However, neither of them could direct crosses from the left goalwards.

Mumbai could have also scored more goals before the end of the game, but eventually had to settle for a 2-0 win, which also saw them complete the double over Bengaluru.

Hero of the Match – Rowllin Borges

The Indian midfielder demonstrated his importance to Mumbai with another strong outing against Bengaluru. Borges contributed in defence as well as attack, while also providing an assist, creating two chances, having 58 touches of the ball and making five clearances. He won the Hero of the Match.

AWARDS

Club Award – Mumbai City FC

Maruti Suzuki Limitless Player of the Match – Modou Sougou

DHL Winning Pass of the Match – Rowllin Borges

ISL Emerging Player of the Match – Sourav Das

Hero of the Match – Rowllin Borges

Watch the match highlights here: