ISL 5: FC Goa hammer five past Mumbai City to climb top of table

FC Goa continued its goal-scoring spree with the 5-0 thrashing of Mumbai City at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Wednesday. The big victory helped Goa pip Bengaluru FC and NorthEast United into the top of the table on the basis of a greater goal difference. All three teams have seven points each.

Mumbai dropped down to seventh with a joint worst goal difference (-5) after four games.

Substitute Miguel Palanca scored a late brace after striker Ferran Corominas had given Goa an early lead from the spot. Jackichand Singh and Edu Bedia were the other goalscorers for the home side.

Coming on the back of a convincing 2-0 victory over FC Pune, Mumbai started well with few initial inroads into the Goa box and should have really scored when Arnold Issoko wasted a free header from a corner. From the resulting counter, Souvik Chakraborty fouled Corominas and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

The Spaniard stood up and scored with a Paneka to give Goa the lead as early as the seventh minute. Mumbai on the other had more shots on target but were wasteful with Rafael Bastos missing perhaps the best chance of the half but failed to unmarked.

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The floodgates then broke open just 10 minutes into the second half when Jackichand escaped Souvik’s marking to score the second from an inch-perfect cross from a Seriton Fernandes.

Bedia soon joined the party with a stunner from outside the Mumbai box after a quick one-two with Corominas set him through on goal.

With a 3-0 lead, Goa were always heading towards another comfortable victory but substitute Palanca, who came on as a substitute in the 82^nd minute, put the final nail in the coffin for Mumbai City with a wonderful brace in six minutes.

Taking a run in the 86^th minute, the Spaniard brought down Manvir Singh’s cross before dinking the ball over substitute goalkeeper Ravi Kumar for his first. Then four minutes later, he finished past the goalkeeper after bringing Ahmed Jahouh’s cross from the right wing.

Image Source: ISL