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Ishan Pandita and Rowllin Borges found the net after the 90th minute…
A late Ishan Pandita goal in the final minute of the match forced Sergio Lobera’s Mumbai City to share the spoils in the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) fixture on Monday.
The six-goal thriller ended as a classic that the neutrals would love to watch but it wouldn’t have been as exciting for the head coaches in the dugouts.
The Islanders will be hugely disappointed to have allowed the Gaurs to come back into the game after taking the lead twice. They were two goals up for most of the first half and had ample opportunities to amass an even bigger lead before heading into the tunnel for the break but instead, lost their focus and allowed Goa to score their first goal. That was the game’s first turning point.
Mumbai City had the zeal and the confidence in the way they started the game and took 20 minutes to open the scoring. FC Goa themselves were not sitting back and that hurt them. On this occasion, their full-backs had marauded so far up the pitch during a foray forward that a quick break and a pass from Adam le Fondre sent Hugo Boumous clear on goal.
The celebration after turning it in also told a story. Boumous, desperately wanted to score against his former team, and Lobera was also visibly elated. The second goal followed soon after, with FC Goa’s defence completely guilty of not picking their men up, leaving both Hernan Santana and Le Fondre completely free in the area during a corner, with the latter turning the ball in.
Although Goa hadn’t played too badly, they were looking ineffective in the final third and as a result, there were all the signs of a runaway victory for the Islanders.
But it was too early to write Goa off. But it appeared that that is what Mumbai City did after taking a commanding lead. They started to relax as half-time approached and paid the price for it. And there were warning signs they should paid heed to. Amrinder was forced to pull off a diving save before Glan Martins decided to produce a moment of inspiration, belting a piledriver in from distance to give some oxygen to FC Goa.
The game was back on and the pendulum had swung. Shortly after the restart, Mumbai City were guilty of lax defending as Igor Angulo broke their offside trap to head in the equaliser.
Mumbai City, given a rude awakening, started to exert their influence on the game again and had a couple of gilt-edged chances to take the lead again but were just wasteful with FC Goa’s defence looking extremely shaky.
Borges, however, seemed to have stolen a win for Mumbai at the beginning of added time when he guided the ball past Dheeraj Singh from a Hugo Boumous free-kick from the left flank. The celebrations began as Mumbai City thought they had found the winner but FC Goa, as they have done so often this season, ended up having the last laugh.
The bigger issue for Lobera is that Boumous was sent-off in the aftermath of FC Goa’s third equaliser in the injury time. It remains to be seen how many games the French attacker would miss consequently.
Mumbai, as much as they looked comfortable in the opening 20-25 minutes, they didn’t create a many clear-cut chances. In fact, they were guilty of being lackadaisical which allowed FC Goa to comeback, not once but twice in the game.
A point was enough for Mumbai to seal their berth in the playoffs but they will have to consider the game as an opportunity wasted to extend their advantage over second-placed ATK Mohun Bagan. Not only has FC Goa’s result made other playoff contenders happy, Mumbai City have opened up the league stage title race for ATK Mohun Bagan.
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