Air India zoom past Mumbai

PUNE: Mumbai FC crashed to their first loss in six encounters against Air India. Sandesh Gadkari made the difference between the two teams scoring as early as the 5th minute in an I-League match at Balewadi Complex,  Saturday.

Air India were the better side creating chances upfront with Henry Ezeh and Sandesh Gadkari keeping Mumbai defence on their toes.

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The match was just five minutes old when Sandesh Gadkari got a clearance on the right wing and moved up. He rushed right into the top of the box catching the Mumbai defence manned by Nicholas Rodrigues and captain Abhishek Yadav unawares.

Gadkari fired a left-footer from around 45 degrees. The ball hit the netting and went out. For some time Mumbai defence kept wondering whether the ball actually went in, but the referee rightly signalled goal.

With three full points, Air India raised their points tally to 24 from 17 matches while Mumbai stay on 14 points.

Mumbai had themselves to blame. Sukore tried his level-best to break into Air India forte but didn’t get much support as Gbeneme Friday had an off-day.

In the second-half, Mumbai looked fatigued and clueless resorting to rough play. Three yellow cards came in for Air India too – Takayuki Omi, Pratik Chaudhary and Henry – who will all sit out in the next match following double bookings.

Air India’s Lamine Tamba was declared man-of-the-match.