Mumbai City FC dominate in 1-1 draw with Jamshedpur

MUMBAI: Mumbai City FC, to borrow head coach Des Buckingham’s words, “chucked the kitchen sink” at Jamshedpur FC but it wasn’t enough to pocket the three points as the hosts were held to a 1-1 draw in their second home game of the Indian Super League at Mumbai Football Arena here on Saturday.

Despite enjoying 64 per cent possession and playing the last 45 minutes virtually in the opponents’ half, Mumbai City couldn’t find the winner. From their season’s first three games, they have two draws and a win.

Assisted by Greg Stewart, Lallianzuala Chhangte put

Mumbai City in the front after just eight minutes. The lead was short-lived though. The hosts conceded four minutes later with Daniel Chukwu levelling things up from a long throw-in following a defensive lapse.

The game lost a bit of momentum thereon before Mumbai picked it up after the break. The key moment arrived three minutes into it when Chhangte was brought down inside the box and Mumbai vociferously appealed for a penalty only for the referee to remain unmoved. Buckingham, who had already expressed his frustration towards the referees earlier, gestured animatedly from the sidelines.

“I’m usually quite calm on the sidelines,” he said. “I understand the mandate this year has been to let the game flow a little bit more. I’m okay with that, but I still think you have to give fouls when they are fouls. And there were a couple of occasions outside the box that was certainly the case and they waived play on. And then in the second half, I think it’s a clear penalty. I’ve seen the replay—9 times out of 10 if not 10 out of 10 you’d get that. For me, that was the big turning point in the game that maybe cost us two more points.”

Mumbai City continued to press and young Vikram Partap Singh even hit the post in the 63rd minute but the scoreline remained 1-1.

In the second match, Hyderabad FC beat Bengaluru FC 1-0.