By I-League Media

GOA: Salgaocar FC and Mumbai FC played out an action-packed 2-2 draw, in the weekend’s first Hero I-League encounter played at the Tilak Maidan.

Goals from Jackichand Singh (23’) and Brain Mascarenhas (49’) put the home side ahead twice in the game, but Mumbai FC managed to come back into the game through two successful penalties scored by Sushil Singh (38’) and Ryuki Kozawa (65’) in either half of the match.

There were four changes in store for the visitors as Pawan Kumar, Hitesh Sharma, Shilton Sydney De Silva and Sushil Singh came into the side.

Salgaocar, on the other hand, Jackichand Singh replaced the injured striker Darryl Duffy while Augustin Fernandes made way for Lenny Pereira.

The initial proceedings at the Tilak Maidan were extremely cagey as both sides struggled to enter the final third in the first ten minutes.

The first chance of the game came in the 11th minute for Mumbai FC, as Eric Brown’s free-kick landed in a dangerous area in the Salgaocar box, but no player in a yellow shirt could get to the end of it as the ball went out for a corner.

The corresponding corner-kick saw Karanjit Singh scrambling across to get his fists on the delivery but he failed and had to resort to a clearance to avoid Mumbai peppering his goal.

Salgaocar FC, however, broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute as Jackichand Singh volleyed home a Reagen Singh floater into the box and the former Royal Wahingdoh winger showed a fabulous technique to put his side ahead.
However, Mumbai FC got right back into the game in the 37th minute after Sushil Singh was brought down into the box by Reagen Singh. The Mumbai FC forward took the penalty kick himself and made no mistake to slot his fourth goal in the season.

Both sides tried to get back into the game, but could not influence the score-line as it remained 1-1 at half-time.
Salgaocar FC were back into the game straight away in the second half as a Brian Mascarenhas cross from the left-hand side somehow dipped below the crossbar and found the back of the net to make it 2-1 to the hosts.

The home side nearly made it three in the 57th minute, after Calvin Mbarga shaved a header off Reagan Singh’s cross but Pawan Kumar dived to his left to make a good save.

Mumbai FC were in the thick of things now as Pratik’s two attempts on target were saved off the line, first from Eric Brown’s flag-kick and the next one off the rebound of Brian’s save just in front of the goal-line.

The visitors’ perseverance to get back into the game reached its culmination as Mumbai earned a penalty after the referee adjudged Lenny Pereira of handling the ball on the goal-line. Karanjit Singh led the protests which nearly took a violent turn, but Ryuki Kozawa stepped up to make it 2-2.

Proceedings became extremely cagey from the 65th minute onwards as both sides looked tired because of the soaring temperature and the high humidity.

At the blow of the referee’s final whistle, the scoreline ended at 2-2 with both sides settling for one point apiece.