Last season’s MVP Hugo Boumous finally found form much to the delight of head coach Sergio Lobera as Mumbai City FC blanked SC East Bengal 3-0 in their ISL encounter at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old had a hand in all three goals. When he assisted Hernan Santana for Mumbai’s third and final goal in the 58th minute, it helped Boumous overtake Odisha FC’s Marcelinho as the player with most assists in ISL history.
After struggling to find the back of the net in their opening two games, the Islanders scored twice in the second half, the first off a penalty awarded after Boumous was brought down by the Red and Gold Brigade goalkeeper Debjit Majumder. Adam Le Fondre stepped up to convert the spot-kick.
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Earlier, East Bengal skipper Daniel Fox was substituted after he suffered an injury while being tackled by Le Fondre in the very first minute. The centre-back tried his best to continue but had to be replaced.
Manager Robbie Fowler was then forced to change his formation. He deployed midfielder Mohammed Rafique who made an instant impact, testing Mumbai goalkeeper Amrinder Singh with a shot from distance.
A minute later, Mumbai opened the scoring with a superb counterattack, initiated by a long ball from Rowllin Borges which reached Boumous.
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The playmaker got past Surchandra Singh, entered the box, evaded Mohamed Irshad's sliding tackle and set up Le Fondre for a simple tap-in. For the rest of the game, Lobera’s side continued to create chances and went on to win by a healthy margin to move to the top of the standings.
Mandar Dessai’s 100
The contest marked the 100th ISL appearance for Mumbai full-back Mandar Rao Dessai, who became the first player ever to reach the milestone. East Bengal defender Narayan Das, with 92 outings, lies next.
The result: Mumbai City FC 3 (Le Fondre 20 & 48-pen, Santana 58) bt SC East Bengal 0 .