SC East Bengal vs Mumbai City FC: Who won yesterday's match?

SC East Bengal went down by a narrow 0-1 margin against the table-toppers Mumbai City FC in the 67th match of the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) Season at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco da Gama, Goa.

The 10th placed SC East Bengal side came back strongly to dominate Mumbai City FC after a poor first 45 minutes but they couldn’t make use of some golden opportunities in the second half.

SC East Bengal had a pretty sloppy start to the game with constant loss of possession. CY Goddard took the ball off Milan Singh and squared it to Adam Le Fondre but the Englishman’s strike went just wide. After a scrappy phase of play, Rowllin Borges fired a shot but it was straight at Debjit Majumder.

Just a couple of minutes later, Hugo Boumous failed to find an empty net after Debjit failed to catch CY Goddard’s cross. The imperious Mumbai City FC eventually took the lead as Mourtada Fall scored his second goal of the season in the 27th minute. It was a second-phase of play following a corner-kick when Hugo Boumous lifted a pass into the box and an unmarked Fall found the back of the net with ease.

After the cooling break, SC East Bengal got a couple of set-piece opportunities but they couldn’t produce much out of it. Mumbai City FC mid-fielder Ahmed Jahouh was treading on a thin line as he kept on making dangerous tackles having been already booked early in the match.

The Red and Gold Brigade did grow into the game as the half came to an end but Mourtada Fall seemed to be everywhere with his tackles and interceptions. Mumbai City FC could have also gone 2-0 ahead as a fantastic Bipin Singh cross found Le Fondre but he headed it wide from close range.

SC East Bengal made a good start to the second-half too as a cross from Anthony Pilkington flew past the face of the goal. In the 57th minute, Hugo Boumous’ initial corner-kick was cleared but the ball fell to Ahmed Jahouh who stylishly chipped a pass to Mourtada Fall. However, Fall couldn’t sort out his feet quickly as he sent out a weak shot to Debjit Majumder. The creative Anthony Pilkington delivered a nice corner-kick to the near post but skipper Daniel Fox headed it agonizingly wide.

Mumbai City FC’s poor performance in the second-half couldn’t have been highlighted better than Bipin Singh’s shot in the 70th minute when there were better options to take. A few minutes later, the Kolkata Giants got a decent free-kick opportunity but Pilkington struck his shot over the crossbar after substitute Bright Enobakhare set him up at the near post. Enobakhare and Pilkington combined once again but the latter’s shot was deflected out for a corner.

The trailing SC East Bengal side missed another big opportunity when Harmanpreet Singh couldn’t head it on target after Aaron Amadi-Holloway came up with a delightful cross. Amadi-Holloway produced another through ball in stoppage time but Amrinder Singh and Amey Ranawade combined to prevent Harmanpreet from taking a shot. This effort helped Mumbai City FC to wrap up a close 1-0 victory.

ISL 2020-21, SC East Bengal vs Mumbai City FC: Who was the Hero of the Match?

Mourtada Fall's (on the left) headed goal early in the first half proved enough for Mumbai City FC. Courtesy: ISL

The solitary goal-scorer Mourtada Fall was named as the ‘Hero of the Match’ for his complete performance against SC East Bengal. After scoring a lot of crucial goals for FC Goa in the previous season, Fall couldn’t reproduce it this year with just one goal from 12 matches. However, the Senegalese defender came up with a clinical headed finish to give Mumbai City FC the crucial lead.

As usual, the 33-year-old also fulfilled his defensive duties in an admirable fashion. He put in a number of typical sliding interceptions and clearances. Overall, he produced five clearances, two blocked shots and one interception.