Greg Stewart scored the first and the final goal against Mumbai City as Jamshedpur sealed a 3-2 victory at the GMC Athletic Stadium on Thursday night. MCFC had clawed back a two-goal deficit but still ended up on the losing side.
Jamshedpur FC consolidated their top-four hopes by putting a dent in Mumbai City FC’s. The Red Miners beat the Islanders 3-2 – thanks to a brace from Scotsman Greg Stewart.
Des Buckingham’s men dominated proceedings on the night; they hoarded more than two-thirds of the possession and attempted almost double the shots on goal as their opponents, yet still ended up on the wrong side of the scoreline.
Boris Singh Thangjam nearly gave the perfect start to Jamshedpur. His header, 30 seconds into the match, rattling the crossbar. The defender was instrumental in JFC’s opening goal of the game, which came in the ninth minute; the youngster’s ball across the box was touched into Stewart’s path by Ritwik Das, and the former Rangers man finished superbly from the centre of the box to give his side the lead.
Das doubled Jamshedpur’s lead in the 30th minute. The youngster tapped in his first Indian Super League goal from close range after being set up by Daniel Chima Chukwu, who himself was played in behind the opposition defence by Boris with a perfectly-weighted ball over the top.
The champions came back to level the scores in the second half. Three minutes before the hour-mark, Rahul Bheke pulled a goal back for the Islanders, volleying a loose ball ahead of the defender after TP Rehenesh had smothered Igor Angulo’s attempted shot.
Rehenesh would frustrate Angulo again, saving the forward’s spot-kick in the 69th minute, which Mourtada Fall had won from being fouled by Peter Hartley. The Jamshedpur defender then gave away another penalty in the 84th minute, this time, by pushing Diego Mauricio to the ground. Mauricio leveled the scores with a kick straight down the middle of Rehenesh’s goal.
Feeling hard done by the decisions that had gone against them, Jamshedpur finally had a reason to celebrate in the 92nd minute when they won a penalty of their own from a Vignesh Dakshinamurthy handball. Stewart stepped up and scored his ninth goal of the season, helping his side secure a last-gasp 3-2 win.
