In an Indian Super League match that had more red cards than goals, Mumbai City FC beat Mohun Bagan Super Giant 2-1 at the Mumbai Football Arena on Wednesday.
Goals from Greg Stewart and Bipin Singh helped the hosts come from behind to beat the Kolkata club that had taken a lead after 25 minutes through Australian striker Jason Cummings.
The first major piece of action in the match though was when Mumbai’s left-back Akash Mishra was shown a red card for a careless tackle on Manvir Singh. The visitors made use of the numerical advantage with a swift move 12 minutes later.
Subhasish Bose played a clever ball forward to Liston Colaco on the left flank, who played a first-time low cross for Cummings to slot home from close range.
Mumbai City though did ensure they ended the first half with a goal. Singh played in a clever cross from the left for Stewart to head home, despite the goalkeeper Vishal Kaith getting a touch.
Early in the second half, Mohun Bagan was down to 10 men as well after Asish Rai brought down Jorge Pereyra Diaz in the 54th minute.
Though there could be cases to argue that neither Mishra nor Rai deserved the straight red cards, Colaco did not have a case when he was given his marching orders in the 57th minute. Bose had been found guilty of conceding a foul, but Colaco’s dissent towards the referee – including pushing the official and later slapping away his hand – warranted the red card.
The hosts holding a man advantage started to use space efficiently. They were helped in the 73rd minute when no Kolkata defender rushed to close space on Singh, who took a short corner.
The Mumbai winger brought the ball under control, and his attempted long-range effort caught the foot of Anirudh Thapa, and the deflection looped the ball over the defence and goalkeeper to settle into the goal.
By the 88th minute, a fourth red card had been dished out. This time Stewart was sent back to the dressing room for an alleged dive that earned him a second yellow card.
At the full-time whistle, tempers flared and both sets of players got into a heated scuffle. It eventually led to Mumbai City’s Vikram Pratap Singh and captain Rahul Bheke being shown a red card, along with Mohun Bagan’s Hector Yuste.
The loss was the first defeat for the Kolkata team this season. But the win was the first for Mumbai City’s new manager Petr Kratky.
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