Holder Mumbai City FC came up with a performance worthy of a champion to crush Odisha FC 4-1 in a Hero ISL match at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here on Sunday.
Braces from Igor Angulo (41 & 70) and Bipin Singh (47 & 73) enabled Mumbai to climb from sixth place to fourth in the table. Odisha with this defeat continued to languish at the seventh spot.
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It was a clinical performance from Mumbai which dominated its opponent from the start. The Islanders were unlucky at the start as the referee overlooked two mistakes from the Odisha defence which could have resulted in penalties. But Odisha after its cagey start sparked into life midway through the first half and for a brief while held the aces.
Odisha created its first genuine chance in the 34 minute when a thunderous volley from Jerry Mawihmingthanga was punched out by Mumbai goalkeeper Nawaz. A few minutes later, Mandar Desai intercepted a fine cross intended for Jerry and cleared it before the striker could do any damage.
Mumbai struck against the run of play in the 41 minute through Igor Angulo whose clinical header from a long cross from Rahul Bheke broke the Odisha fightback.
The trend continued in the second half as Bipin Singh struck early in the 47 minute, punishing the Odisha defence for its sloppiness. Ahmed Johouh stole the ball from a tentative Odisha player, from just outside the box, and teed off Bipin Singh who moved into the box from left and crashed an angular shot into the net.
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Angulo struck again in the 70 minute as he collected a through pass from Bipin Singh and wrong footed his challenger to score his 10 goal of the season. Bipin Singh gave finishing touches to a Cassinho cut back from the byline to complete the rout in the 72 minute.
Jonathas struck the consolation goal for Odisha from a long ranger in the 90 minute.
