ISL: FC Pune City 2-0 Mumbai City FC

The away blues continued for Mumbai City FC as they were beaten 2-0 by local rivals FC Pune City in the second edition of the ‘Maharashtra Derby’ of the Hero Indian Super League.Both teams were desperate for the three points to keep their chances of qualification for the semi-finals alive and it was Pune who put in a relentless attacking performance from the opening whistle to overwhelm their opponents for a comfortable victory.Dudu Omagbemi grabbed the goals, but there were other talking points too in this wildly entertaining game.

#1 Pune somehow went into half-time 0-0

Pune were scything their way through Mumbai’s defence at will

How on earth Pune managed to not score in a first half (and eventually a match) that they dominated was beyond belief.

They peppered the Mumbai goal with attack after attack and had so many great opportunities to find the back of the net with Dudu, Kostas Katsouranis and Park Il Kwang all guilty of being wasteful in front of goal. Mumbai were being outplayed all over the pitch with Pune running them ragged.

And yet they had nothing to show for it going into the break.

#2 Pune almost pay the penalty

Mumbai were awarded a penalty early in the second half

As it happens ever so often, the team that dominates a game, but fails to take its chances is often punished.

And this game was no different as Pune were almost made to pay for their profligacy. Pritam Kotyal made a very unwise decision to handle the ball and Mumbai were awarded a spot kick. Tiago Ribeiro’s low shot though was a bit too close and Pune custodian Arindam Bhattacharya made the save to emerge hero.

It could have been very different had Mumbai actually taken the lead against the run of play.

#3 Subrata Paul deserves a medal of honour

Subrata Paul (far left) did his best to keep Pune at bay

He may be at the bottom of the standings amongst all the goalkeepers in the ISL, but make no mistake – Subrata Paul is in no way responsible for Mumbai languishing where they are. If anything, he has saved the blushes for his team on many an occasion, often being a one-man wall repelling opposition attacks.

His defence has left him exposed very often and he has stood up brilliantly to it making a number of key saves. Today was no different, Paul was in large part responsible for keeping Pune out in that first half and for the hosts only winning by a two goal margin.

#4 Is there no end to Mumbai\'s struggles?

Mumbai coach Peter Reid was forced into more changes, yet the result was the same

When these sides first met early in the tournament, Mumbai thumped Pune 5-0 at home, playing a brand of football that was fun to watch and filled with fluency. There was a huge difference in the levels of the two teams with Pune looking like they were going to finish bottom of the league.

Since then, Mumbai have only won two more games and suffered with form and injuries to key players while Pune have slowly found their feet after a tough start, and today there was again a huge gulf in the two teams, but the other way around with Mumbai now bringing up the rear.

Peter Reid rang the changes again looking for that elusive win bringing in Sushil Kumar Singh and Abhishek Yadav into the starting line-up to no avail. He was without the influential Jan Stohanzl in midfield and he was sorely missed as Pune ran roughshod over his team in midfield.

Also not playing were Andre Moritz and Nicolas Anelka – the problems just don’t look to be abating for Reid and his Mumbai side.

#5 Franco Colomba the rockstar

*(Image courtesy: FC Pune City’s Twitter account)*

If there was anything more captivating than Pune’s performance on the pitch, it was watching their coach Franco Colomba on the sidelines. He entered the pitch and did a leap of joy that saw his spectacles drop out of his coat pocket when Krisztian Vadocz put the ball in the back of the net.

The coach almost stepped on his glasses as he returned to the sidelines with a big smile across his face, still not having realized that the goal had been flagged off for a foul. His expressions when he turned around to notice, priceless.

When they did score the opener, he made a lovely jog all the way till Arindam in goal, hi-fied his keeper, and returned in earnest. When Dudu made it two, he went out on that customary jog again, this time returning without a hi-fi, but feeling elated. To his horror, he returned to his technical area to find the referee had just sent him off for entering the pitch one too many times.

He walked off only to take refuge on a chair near the Maruti car on display from where he was relaying instructions to his staff. He was spotted by the officials and told to go to which he proceeded to enter the spectators’ seating area not far from where he was sitting.

To his dismay, he was met by a group of enthusiastic fans who were keen on an autograph and getting themselves on TV as the camera zoomed onto Colomba. The frenzy was preventing him from actually watching the game and as his request for calm fell on deaf ears, he decided to get out of there too and take a stroll along the corner flag.

As the final whistle went, Colomba was still sauntering around the fringes of the pitch, and returned in earnest to celebrate with his team, successful in his game of hide and seek with the officials.