ATK beat Mumbai City FC 2-0 in a 2019-20 Indian Super League (ISL) game at the Mumbai Football Arena on Saturday.
The home team dominated most of the game, however, it was Antonio Habas' side that came out on top in the end, thanks to goals from Pronay Halder and the man who replaced him immediately after the opener - Michael Soosairaj.
HIGHLIGHTS|
Pronay, Soosairaj goals hand ATK win against Mumbai :
Mumbai head coach Jorge Costa was left fuming at the end due to some controversial refereeing decisions that went against his side.
Find below the major talking points from the game
- ATK goes top with first-half brilliance -
Despite a good start by Mumbai City, it was the visitor who drew first blood. The forward duo of Roy Krishna and David Williams combined well once again to set up Pronay Halder, whose tap-in gave ATK the 1-0 lead in the 29th minute. Moments later, Soosairaj, who was brought in by Habas after Pronay pulled his hamstring produced a moment of brilliance. His inch-perfect curler beat Mumbai skipper and keeper Amrinder Singh into the goal to make it 2-0 for the current table-topper in the 43rd minute.
- Of missed chances and a merciless referee -
The host had better possession and pass percentage on the night. It also made more goal attempts and dangerous attacks in the match. However, Mumbai's finishing deficiencies lost it the game. The forwards - Modou Sougou, Amine Chermiti and Diego Carlos - should have at least scored thrice. But the main problem for Mumbai came in the form of two poor refereeing decisions, both involving Sougou, which understandably made Costa furious.
MATCH REPORT | MUMBAI CITY FC VS ATK FC
The first one of those questionable decisions came when Sougou was ruled offside after finding the back of the net. The offside call was certainly debatable after watching the replays. The next call was a foul on ATK keeper Arindam Bhattacharya after which the referee disallowed a goal by Sougou, who was the offender in this case. But once again replays showed that there was no contact between the Mumbai forward and the visitor's shot-stopper. The already long list of refereeing howlers has yet another dubious addition.
- Injury concerns for Habas and ATK -
Despite the win, ATK head coach Habas was dealt with injury blows to key players in the match. First up, it was goal-scorer Pronay who suffered a hamstring injury in the first-half. Then it was forward David Williams who was taken off in the second half due to a similar injury. ATK would be hoping that these injuries are not serious as it is in pole position to top the ISL points table at the end of the regular season.
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