Karan Sawhney’s strikes at the death , ensures Mumbai FC snatched a come from behind 2-1 win against Churchill Brothers Goa in a 2nd round I-league played at the Tilak Maidan, South Goa.
Action during the Mumbai FC and Churchil Bros, Goa during the 2nd round I-league match.
Santosh Kashyap,coach of the Mumbai outfit playing their first away match of the season suffered an early setback when Churchill’s ace striker Brandon Fernandes showed great skills scoring with a direct free kick giving goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani no chance to make a save . The Mumbai team showed great resilience as they fought back gamely and produce 2 strikes through Victorino Fernandes (34′) & Karan Sawhney (90+’) to turn things around to clinch their 2nd successive victory and earn 3 points. Mumbai has 6 points from 2 games while Churchill lost both their games.
Lalchhawnkima did well to keep Wolfe in check in the Mumbai defence. Shallum Pires then almost scored from a header off Dias’ cross. Thoi Singh too came close to directing his header into the net off another delivery by Dias in the 21st minute. Minutes later, Churchill goalkeeper Priyant Singh had to be alert to thwart the threat posed by Thoi’s run into the box.
Mumbai eventually scored the equaliser through an opportunistic strike by Victorino who took advantage of a mix-up between defender Rowilson Rodrigues and his goalkeeper in the 35th minute. It was the home side who started the second-half on the front foot and they forced two quick saves from Kattimani as Clifford and Rowilson’s attempts were kept out from 2 corners taken by Brandon.
As the home side kept on attacking, the visitors resorted to keeping the ball to break the flow of Churchill’s game often.Both coaches introduced fresh legs to aid their side’s chances of breaking the deadlock. Anthony D’Souza replaced Miranda and Hitesh Sharma came in for Victorino, but the move failed to make an impact for Churchill.
Mumbai had a great chance to win the game in the 84th minute. Adil Khan’s poor tackle on Hitesh saw referee Rahul Kumar Gupta point to the spot but substitute Karan Sawhney’s poor spot-kick was easily saved by Priyant but the substitute went from hero to zero in the 2nd minute of injury time after he was picked out by Thoi Singh, who had surged down the right wing and got to the byline. Sawhney’s side-footed shot was weak but it, fortunately, rolled into the far bottom corner.