Modou Sougou went on a goal-scoring spree as he hammered four goals to power Mumbai City FC to a 6-1 thumping of Kerala Blasters at the Mumbai Football Arena here on Sunday.
The win extended Mumbai City's unbeaten run in the Indian Super League to eight games and keeps the side on the second spot in the ISL table, while Kerala Blasters' winless run in 10 games sees the side reeling on the eight spot.
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The Blasters came close to scoring twice in the opening stages. Courage Pekuson chased a pass down, found himself alone with an onrushing Amrinder Singh to beat but failed to find the target. Earlier, Lalruathara raced down the left and crossed to Halicharan Narzary, who lined up for a shot but Subhasish Bose arrived just in time to thwart away the attempt.
Sougou opened the scoring as early the 12th minute, when he found the back of the net off Paulo Machado's low cross. He doubled his tally within a span of three minutes as he fed off Raynier Fernandes' pass to fire a lovely curling attempt into the right top corner.
Seiminlen Doungel seemed to offer the home side a glimmer of hope when he scored in 26th minute. Sahal Abdul Samad weaved his way through the middle in an attempt to find space for a shot, the ball deflected off a defender and fell to Doungel, who reacted quickly and found the back of the net with a looping shot over a diving Amrinder Singh. However, Blasters' joy was short-loved as Sougou struck again in the 30th minute. The Senegalese completed his hat-trick when he headed in Subhasish Bose's cross past Blasters custodian Dheeraj Singh to make it 3-1 and put his side firmly in control.
Reeling from three Sougou strikes and its defence in disarray, Kerala Blasters suffered another setback as Zakeer Mundampara was sent off before the break owing to a double booking, and the visitor was forced to play the rest of the tie with ten men.
The home side continued to dominate the tie in the second half and Rafael Bastos' long-range strike made it 4-1 in the 70th minute. Matias Mirabaje also had a go from distance and found the target to inflict more agony on the visitor and steer his side to a 5-1 lead. Sougou returned to claim another goal in injury time and capped off a brilliant win for Mumbai City FC.
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