MUMBAI CITY FC go down 1-5 to Chennaiyin FC 

Mumbai, 28 October 2014: Mumbai City FC had to endure a heavy 1-5 loss against the hosts Chennaiyin FC at the Nehru stadium in Chennai on Tuesday evening.

Elano Blumer (9 and 69 min), Jeje Lalpekhlua (26) and John Stiven Mendoza Valencia (41 and 44) scored for Chennaiyin FC while Syed Rahim Nabi scored the consolation goal for Mumbai City FC three minutes from time in the 5-1 loss for the visitors.

Mumbai City FC had once more more of the possession but could not find the goals to show for their effort as Chennaiyin's FC cleverly used their chances to score.

The visitors were a bit unlucky at the start of the match and the combination of errors and bad luck meant that they were constantly trying to catch up with their opponents.

“I don’t want to take anything away from our opponents. They played superb football, and it was a tough game for us,” Mumbai City FC coach Peter Reid said after the match.

The first bit of bad luck struck in the sixth minute when an outstretched leg of Manuel Friedrich hit Columbian Mendoza while trying to clear the ball and Elano Blumer scored from the ensuing penalty despite custodian Subrata Pal diving in the correct direction.

The early goal meant that Mumbai City FC was forced to press higher to seek an equaliser and that left more space for the hosts to exploit on the counter. Though Subrata came up with a couple of great saves to keep the Chennaiyin strikers at bay, Jeje Lalpekhula managed to sneak one past the custodian in the 26th minute and then Mendoza Valencia added a brace to make the task all the more difficult for the visitors. Chennaiyin FC were leading 4-0 at the break.

On the other side, Mumbai City FC were making some promising moves with Frenchman Nicolas Anelka, who was making his Indian Super League debut, showed some of his magic as he came up with a couple of defence splitting passes for Subhash Singh but his attempts were blocked by Chennaiyin FC custodian Shilton Paul. Mumbai City FC came back stronger in the second half and put pressure on the home team and were duly rewarded when skipper Nabi nodded home from a corner. But that was too little too late.

“We definitely need to work on our defence. We need to be a lot tighter at the back, and we need to work on our passing at the back as well,” Reid admitted.

The coach, however, said that criticizing individuals is not right. “It’s a team game, you can not point fingers at individuals (for the loss). We are going to train harder, we are going to work harder, and we would fight back,” the coach said.

Reid was also satisfied with Nabi’s show and said the man has shown some consistency. “Nabi and Anelka are important, and I am expecting a lot from them in the future games. Nabi has been consistent, and that is an important thing for us,” he added.

Result: Chennaiyin FC 5 (Elano Blumer 9, 69; Jeje 26; John Stiven Mendoza Valencia 41, 44) bt Mumbai City FC 1 (Syed Rahim Nabi 87);

Hero Man of the Match: Elano Blumer; Swift moment of the Match: John Stiven Mendoza Valencia; Fittest player of the Match: Subhash Singh; Emerging player of the Match: Jeje