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In a battle for playoff positioning, Jamshedpur FC stole three points away at Mumbai with a 2-1 win thanks to a late winner from Bikash Jairu. They withstood plenty of pressure from the hosts and made the most of the opportunities that fell their way while Mumbai City frittered away theirs.
The fixture was a crucial one considering the race for the top four. With the victory, Jamshedpur broke into the top four while Mumbai City were left stagnant in the sixth spot.
Here are the major talking points:
A comical goal
These kind of goals are a rare phenomenon, not because they are spectacular but a comedy of errors result in such goals.
Jamshedpur caught the Mumbai defence off-guard in the 37th minute after Mehrajuddin Wadoo was dispossessed leaving behind him a lot of space which the visitors could exploit.
Farukh Choudhary made a very good run into the Mumbai box, smartly evading two challenges and found himself one on one with the keeper. That's where the good stuff ended.
Choudhary then completely scuffed his left-footed shot and the ball went in a completely different direction to where it was intended to go but then it struck Mumbai defender Marcio Rozario and headed towards the Mumbai goal.
Goalkeeper Amrinder Singh and defenders Sanju Pradhan and Rozario made a mad dash after it while Jamshedpur's Izu Azuka decided to join the melee. However, Azuka need not do anything special as Pradhan slammed the ball into his own net while trying to clear it.
The hilarious part of the sequence was when it was found that Choudhary was lying on the ground still contemplating about his missed opportunity not realising the fact that the ball had already crossed the goalline.
A Cameroonian midfield battle
Jamshedpur head coach Steve Coppell decided to use Andre Bikey in midfield for this game. Normally a centre-back, Bikey was used as a defensive midfielder to combat the influence of Mumbai City FC's Achille Emana.
The duo was once teammates at the Cameroon national team and their tussle proved to be an entertaining one. Bikey was successful to a fair degree in limiting Emana's influence on the game in the first half, but the Mumbai man managed to get going in the second. This resulted in Mumbai piling up waves of attacks on the Jamshedpur FC goal.
Subrata Paul stood like a rock
A goal down at half-time, Mumbai City FC came out all guns blazing in the second half. The opening 20 minutes of the second half was all about Mumbai City FC tormenting the Jamshedpur defence as they created numerous scoring chances. They pegged Jamshedpur back in their own half and probed away, but frustratingly they couldn't get a breakthrough.
While Mumbai were not good enough when it came to finishing off their moves, Jamshedpur goalkeeper Subrata Paul made some telling saves as well to frustrate the hosts. Having already denied Balwant Singh in the first half, Paul dived to his right in the 58th minute to keep out a Balwant-header.
Paul's best save came in the 66th minute when he made a fingertip save to keep out Sanju Pradhan's rasping drive. As a result of that effort, the ball hit the post instead of nestling into the bottom corner.
A telling first touch
Mumbai City's pressure finally paid off in the 79th minute when Everton Santos equalised. However, just the sheer effort seemed to have drained them as Jamshedpur looked the better side after it.
The visitors who were looking to keep their playoff hopes alive were rewarded as they took the lead again just five minutes after Mumbai City's equaliser.
Just three minutes after coming on for Farukh Choudhary, Jairu was in the right spot to score the winning goal in the 84th minute. Andre Bikey's cross from the right found Kervens Belfort whose weak shot was saved by Amrinder Singh, but the rebound fell to Jairu who had an empty net to place the ball.
It was pretty much his first touch of the game and it turned out to be one of the most important touches of the game.
Three home losses in a row for last year's group toppers
Thursday's outcome has resulted in the third consecutive loss at home for Mumbai City FC. The last season's group toppers did not play too badly in this one, but they were guilty of not making the most of their chances once again. They managed to get behind Jamshedpur's defence frequently, but still couldn't quite score the goals necessary in the end. Balwant Singh, in particular, will be ruing some very promising opportunities that he let slip.
He missed a header in the second half in the 61st minute after Everton Santos had delivered a delicious cross from the right. A few minutes earlier, he failed to provide right direction to a header which was saved by Subrata Paul.
Mumbai had 16 shots, 10 of them on target, but they didn't take their chances and Coppell's Jamshedpur made them pay.
