Hosts Mumbai FC played some dominating football as two first half goals guided them to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Bengaluru FC in an I-League match at the Cooperage Ground here on Wednesday.
Arata Izumi opened the scoring for the home side in the fifth minute while the second came from North Korean Son Min-chol in the 11th minute.
With the win, Mumbai climb to the second spot in the standings with eight points from four games, having won two and drawn two.
Whereas, Bengaluru, despite loss, stay in the top of the points table with nine points from four matches, having won three and lost one.
Just few minutes after kick-off, the home side had the advantage in their favour as Izumi struck to give Mumbai the lead.
Some sloppy defending by visitors' saw Ahutosh Mehta's cross initially picked well by Sushil Singh. His shot came off John Johnson before Izumi finished it off brilliantly to make it 1-0.
An early goal was quite a blow for the visitors who have been enjoying a good run so far this season also the leaders in the points table.
The visitors failed to come back strongly as again some poor defending saw them go 0-2 down inside 15 minutes of play.
The goal in the 11th minute came as a real surprise for Bengaluru as Son Min-chol picked the ball off a clearance from the middle of the field and shot it direct to the back of the net, resulting in the handful home crowd gathered going bizarre.
From there on, some tight defending by Mumbai denied Bengaluru a single goal for the night.
Following their win, Mumbai will next face DSK Shivajians on February 7 while leaders Bengaluru will take on East Bengal on January 30.
