ISL: NorthEast United FC tame Mumbai City FC to win first game on the road 2-0

Kondwani Mtonga scores the first goal for NEUFC past Mumbai keeper Subrata Pal

John Abraham’s NorthEast United FC came away from their first road game with a full three points after beating high-flying Mumbai City FC 2-0 at the D.Y. Patil Stadium.

Mumbai went in with an unchanged side as coach Peter Reid opted not to disrupt a winning combination. NorthEast United also made no change to the team.

The two teams literally butted heads inside the first minute as Mumbai’s Andre Moritz and NEUFC’s Isaac Chansa were involved in a terrible collision. Moritz continued with a bandage around the head, but Chansa had to come off and was replaced by Brazilian Felipe Castro.

The first 15 minutes was all Mumbai as they hogged 83% of possession. Despite promise of an attacking game from coach Ricki Herbert, NEUFC were more inclined to absorb pressure, preferring to hit the home team on the counter instead.

And Nadong Bhutia came close to providing the home team with the reward for their dominant start as he managed to get behind the NorthEast defence, but he chose to cross it for a colleague instead of going for the shot and the chance was gone.

Another half chance came Mumbai’s way when Moritz, who was playing in a free role much like against Pune, provided a lovely ball for Didika who cut in, but hit his shot wide.

NEUFC’s best chance came in the 17th minute when Moritz was dispossessed on the left flank and Koke received the ball before passing it to Felipe who had made a good run. Felipe made it into the box, but hit his shot wide.

Up front, there was constant interchanging between Moritz, Didika and Jan Stohanzl to try and break the opposing defence down. They tried many things, and with the NEUFC defence not pressurizing the man on the ball, they were able to get into pockets of space. However, they weren’t able to create any clear-cut chances.

Durga had his first shot in the 37th minute when he received a pass from Koke and managed to roll Pavel Cmovs, only to put his shot wide.

A minute later, Stohanzl made a good run down the right and managed to get a cross in, but there were no Mumbai players in the box to take advantage.

A few minutes before the whistle, Mumbai had another half-chance as Manuel Friedrich headed down a Didika free-kick, but Joan Capdevila managed to intercept before Subhash Singh could get to it.

The teams went into the half goalless despite Mumbai having the better of the first half. They were only able to muster three shots on goal in the period. Both teams also were extremely poor in their execution of corner kicks.

Mumbai’s hero from the previous game, Andre Moritz, was taken off at half-time

Freddie Ljungberg was introduced at half-time (a few minutes in thanks to a malfunctioning display board) for Moritz despite the Brazilian looking influential in the first half.

But it was NEUFC that started the brighter in the second half and striker Durga served notice with a long shot that sailed just over Pal’s goal.

On 53 minutes, Mumbai looked to be getting a nice move going through Lungberg, but it fizzled out after Tiago’s loose touch. NEUFC went straight down the other end and and Dong-Hyun Do put in a dangerous cross from the right, but Costa got in to clear the danger.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 57th minute and it was the visitors who got the goal. A moment of ingenuity from Koke saw him spot the run of Kongwani Mtonga and deliver a beautiful dink ball over the Mumbai defence. Mtonga ran on to the pass, held off Costa and slotted the ball past Pal to give his team the lead.

Ribeiro was being pressurized in the left-back position as most of NEUFC’s attacks were coming down that channel and Reid opted to go for some protection by bringing India veteran Deepak Mondal on for Ribeiro.

Mumbai fans got excited on another foray forward as Letzelter’s cross found Subhash, but the Manipuri forward was flagged off-side.

Koke, the man who made the goal, was soon taken off for James Keene.

There was another jolt for Mumbai as with 19 minutes to go, Ljungberg went down on the pitch with a pulled hamstring. What made matters worse for the home team was that just a minute earlier, Reid had made the final substitution bringing on Argentinian striker Diego Nadaya for Bhutia.

10 became nine soon after for the home side as central defender Cmovs went in for a savage hack that saw him pick up a second yellow and leave the pitch.

NEUFC came so close to making them pay for it with Do getting into the box down the left, but his cross was way off and missed both his colleagues inside the box.

The humid conditions claimed another veteran as Capdevila went down with seemingly an injured thigh muscle. He came back on, but purely to maintain the numbers, in a centre-forward role.

With the advantage slightly reduced, Mumbai rallied an attack and Didika tested Rehenesh in goal with a fizzing shot.

The visitors could have punished the hosts further, but they were guilty of getting caught offside far too much.

On 86 minutes, Mumbai had an opportunity to pull back level through a free-kick 35 metres out as Keene was pulled up for a high foot on Didika. The wall did its job though and Nadaya’s effort was kept out.

With the injuries and substitutions, five minutes of stoppage time were added on. And NEUFC managed to kill the game off with an insurance goal as Keene slalomed his way past Mondal into the box and cut it back for Felipe in acres of space who scored with a sweet left-footed finish.

A great start to NEUFC’s road trip and a valuable three points that helps them stay on top of Mumbai and into second place in the table. For Mumbai, an evening where nothing went right for them after that magnificent win just over a week ago.

Zambian Mtonga, who was superb right through marking Mumbai’s danger men effectively in midfield and scored the opening goal, was deservedly named Man of the Match.

Final Score: MCFC 0 NEUFC 2 (57’ Mtonga, 90’ Felipe)