Mumbai City held by Jamshedpur despite dominance

MUMBAI: Mumbai City FC was held to a 1-1 draw by Jamshedpur FC in the Indian Super League 2022-23 match at the Mumbai Football Arena here on Saturday.

Lallianzuala Chhangte put the host in front in the eighth minute, before Daniel Chima Chukwu levelled the score four minutes later. The versatile Greg Stewart, Jamshedpur’s star player from last season, provided the assist for Mumbai City’s goal, but was neutralised by his former club for the rest of the match.

In the opening stages, both sides tested the waters in the final third. Jamshedpur won a corner in the second minute, but Wellington Priori’s ball was too high for any of the players to reach. At the other end, Bipin Singh found Stewart with a brilliant cross from the left flank, but the unmarked Scot headed it straight at the goalkeeper.

Eight minutes into the game, the deadlock was broken. Stewart played in a low ball across the face of goal as Chhangte darted towards it to bury it. Four minutes later, parity was restored. Priori’s long throw from the right was flicked on by Harry Sawyer, before Chukwu rose highest to head the ball into the top right corner.

Around the half-hour mark, complacency in midfield allowed Priori to nick the ball off Stewart and feed it through to Boris Singh. However, Boris’s effort lacked power and was collected comfortably by Mumbai City goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa. Moments later, Boris failed to control Chukwu’s cross from the left as Jamshedpur squandered another chance.

The host piled the pressure as the match touched the hour mark, but the tourist’s defence was able to stay in shape and keep the Mumbai City attackers at bay. In the 63rd minute, substitute Vikram Singh’s looping effort bounced off the bar. Minutes later, TP Rehenesh was quick to deny Stewart’s shot from a free-kick. In the final quarter, MCFC did not take its foot off the pedal, but JFC dealt with the pressure well and relied on rare counter attacks to move forward.

Ogbeche nets winner for Hyderabad

Hyderabad FC remained unbeaten after a narrow 1-0 victory over Bengaluru FC at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad. Bartholomew Ogbeche (83’) scored the only goal of the match to lift Hyderabad (7 points from 3 games) to the top of the table. BFC, which suffered its first defeat of the ISL season, remains on four points, from three games. Substitute Borja Herrera’s corner was tamely pushed by Bengaluru goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu into the path of Ogbeche, who headed home his second goal of the campaign.

RESULTS: Mumbai City FC 1 (L Chhangte 8) drew with Jamshedpur FC 1 (D Chukwu 12); Hyderabad FC 1 (B Ogbeche 83) bt Bengaluru FC 0