Mumbai City FC defeated Mohammedan SC 1-0 in the semi-final of the Durand Cup at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on Wednesday. Bipin Singh came up with the goods for Mumbai City FC as his late strike helped the former ISL champions seal a spot in the final.
Mumbai City FC to Durand Cup 2022 Final
It was a tale of missed chances by both the teams and just when the first semifinal was headed for extra-time, Mumbai scored the all-important goal in the 90th minute. Bipin Singh scored the only goal of the match as MCFC booked their place in the final, where they will take on either Bengaluru FC or Hyderabad FC.
At the 15th minute mark, Shaher Shaheen brought down Greg Stewart but the resulting free-kick was wasted. In the 19th minute, Davronov switched over play from the left with a long ball to the right as Marcus Joseph chased. The star forward tried a shot with his left but it was deflected away to safety. In the 27th minute, Marcus got the ball on the left centre line and tried to catch the goalkeeper off guard with an outrageous effort that was just over the target.
Mohammedan began the second half with the same vigour and just five minutes after resumption, the ball fell kindly for Abhash Thapa after a lovely team move involving Marcus and Faiaz, but he failed to test keeper Lachenpa with a horribly mistimed connection.
Both teams were at their wasteful best and squandered at least half a dozen chances. From the Islanders point of view, Mandar Rao Desai and Gurkirat Singh lacked coordination upfront and missed some easy chances. Playing in front of a strong home crowd of about 15,000, Mohammedan too had their share of opportunities.
As the clock started to tick down and the match seemingly looked heading for extra time, Mumbai City FC stepped up to end things within 90 minutes. And they did so when Chhangte beat the off-side trap to run down the right and slip in Bipin to score the winning goal of the match.
