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Mumbai City usurped Kerala Blasters to the lead with Mehtab Singh profiting from a poor clearance in the 21st minute. The centre-back thundered the ball into the back of the net as soon as the ball arrived at his feet.
The visitors upped their ante and doubled their lead following a comical defensive error from Marko Leskovic. The Croat defender dived forward to clear the ball, but Pereyra Diaz won the ball and went past him to calmly slot the ball past Gill, ten minutes after the deadlock was broken.
Des Buckingham's side came close to securing their third goal when Greg Stewart shot the ball from outside the penalty box. However, Prabhsukhan Gill got a firm hand to divert the ball into a corner early in the second half.
Manjappada stepped up their game and created a flurry of chances in the second half. Adrian Luna found Dimitrios with an exquisite delivery from the left wing. The latter's diverted header was a whisker away from the post. A few minutes later, back-to-back opportunities for Dimitrios and Jeakson Singh were not sufficient to trouble the scoreline.
Luna was the closest to scoring on the night when his shot struck the post after a lovely tie-up by Jessel Carneiro from the left wing. This defeat will be a hard pill to swallow for Ivan Vukamonovic given the number of unconverted goalscoring opportunities in the second half.
We shall look at three talking points from the Islanders' 2-0 victory over Kerala Blasters.
#3 Sloppy Kerala Blasters backline paid the price:
Ivan Vukomanovic will be fuming with the defending as the Blasters backline conceded two sloppy goals in the first-half. As for the opening goal, Dimitrios and Khabra's failure to clear the ball helped Mehtab's course to pick up the pieces and drive the visitors into the lead.
It was followed by a defensive catastrophe for the second goal. Greg Stewart was given time and space to find Pereyra Diaz. The former Kerala Blasters forward's touch took the ball away from Marko Leskovic, whose miscalculated tackle helped Mumbai double their tally. The Men in Yellow's backline will have to step up to avoid leakage of sloppy goals.
#2 Contrasting attacking returns for both sides:
Statistics suggest that Kerala Blasters edged their opponents in the attempts department. The hosts took 18 shots as opposed Mumbai City's 16, out of which 4 were on target from both sides. To put things into perspective, Kerala Blasters' woeful finishing assisted Des Buckingham's side to procure their second cleansheet of the season.
Apart from Lallianzuala Chhangte's easy chance in the second half, the visitors kept their composure in front of goal to gun down Kerala Blasters. Despite it not being a complete team display, Des will be delighted to head home with three useful points.
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#1 Match winner Mehtab with defensive and offensive contributions:
Mehtab Singh's all-round game enabled Mumbai City to procure their first away victory of the season. The centre-back's fine shot rifled into the back of the net in the first half. Additionally, he made a crucial interception to thwart the attack early in the game after a defensive mistake from the Islanders.
Kerala applied relentless pressure in the second half, but Mehtab stood strong on numerous occasions to protect the cleansheet. It was a display worthy of the Man of the Match.
