Marko Stankovic’s spot-kick, with a minute to go for the final whistle, saved Hyderabad FC from another defeat as it snatched a 1-1 draw from the jaws of defeat against Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) at the GMC Balayogi Stadium here on Friday.
Just when the sparse but vociferous fans seemed to be resigning for another dismal ending, Mumbai threw away its chance of moving into the top four when defender Pratik Chaudhary committed a foul on the advancing Bobo resulting in the penalty in injury time.
As it happened |
And, Stankovic was spot on with his right footer sending Mumbai custodian Amrinder Singh the wrong way, to trigger celebrations in the Hyderabad camp.
Hyderabad made a couple of changes including replacing custodian and skipper Kamaljit Singh with Laxmikant Kattimani while passing the armband to the mercurial Marcelinho.
It was Mumbai which dominated proceedings as its forward line of Kevyn Angoue, Amine Chermiti and Diego Oliveria repeatedly tested the Hyderabad defence with some splendid runs from both the flanks.
It was not that Hyderabad didn’t have scoring opportunities with Marcelinho, Nikhil Poojary and Bobo working in tandem but once again it was left wanting for poor finishing upfront until the ninety minutes.
Mumbai threatened to score in the 19th minute when Oliveira’s close range shot from the right side of the box was saved by a diving Kattimani.
Just when it looked as though the first-half was going to be a goalless affair, Hyderabad was stunned when midfielder Poojary, in his enthusiasm to thwart an advancing Angoue, saw the ball deflect off his forearm inside the box. It forced the referee to award a penalty to Mumbai which was duly converted by Mohamed Larbi.
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