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Mumbai FC held the table-toppers Chruchill Brothers to a goalless draw, who seemed totally off-colour in the Round 18 match of the I-League at the Balewadi Stadium here on Thursday (January 24).
The Goan team played scratchy football all through the match and not once did they threaten Mumbai FC in the 95 minutes they were on field. Still, one point from the drawn match was enough to keep Churchill Brothers way ahead of the challengers.
Churchill now have 38 points from 16 matches and are five points ahead of Dempo SC and East Bengal. Mumbai improved their tally to 25 points from 17 matches, but they stay on No 6 position, a point behind Prayag United SC.
Mumbai’s Ghanaian striker Yusif Yakubu and Nigerian ND Opara virtually toyed with Churchill defence, but the home team was unlucky to break the deadlock.
Opara, in particular, had four clear chances, but all went waste thanks to remarkable piece of goalkeeping from Churchill custodian Sandip Nandy.
At the start of the second half, the game was stopped when Roberto Silva injured his fingers during a tackle with Mumbai skipper Haroon Fakruddin Amiri. Though Amiri walked away unhurt, Beto winced in pain. Amiri was quick to call for medical help when he saw injury to Beto’s fingers.
The Brazilian was taken out in an ambulance and no immediate update was available on the extent of injury.
Khalid Jamil gave Abhishek Yadav a start, while Amiri had returned after serving his suspension, with Kamaljeet Kumar and Faizal Rehman relegated to the bench. The away side meanwhile had to bring in Sanjay Balmuchu and Israil Gurung, with Tomba Singh and Bikramjit Singh unavailable.
Though Churchill began on a bright note, Mumbai caught up with them soon after. Yakubu had the first chance in the game when Gabriel Fernandes set him up, but his shot flew wide of the post.
Midfielder Nicholas Rodrigues then moved up with the ball and found Evans Quao in a perfect position, but the Ghanaian defender’s volley just about tested Nandy, who was brilliant under the bar. Quao injured himself soon after and was substituted, but that did not worry Mumbai too much.
Mumbai FC goalkeeper Luis Barreto was hardly tested by the Churchill Brothers strikers. Five minutes from the break, Subhash Chakraborty and Gabriel attacked in tandem from the right flank but defender Bilal Najarin blocked their attempt only to get a hit in the process.
After Beto was taken out in ambulance, substitute Akram Moghrabi gave the Goan team only real chance when he turned and unleashed a powerful shot from outside the box, but Barreto was quick to palm it out for a corner.
On the counterattack, Gabriel set up Ashutosh Mehta, but Nandy was again at his peak saving the ball from going in. With no breakthrough coming in, the match seemed to peter into the draw. But Gabriel had yet not given up as he again set up Opara, who again failed to score past his former team.
