Mumbai City FC thrashed Odisha FC 6-1 at the GMC Stadium on Wednesday in the Indian Super League. Bipin Singh scored a hattrick (38, 47, 86) for the Islanders and became the fourth Indian in ISL history to score a hat-trick. Also, Bartholomew Ogbeche scored a double in the 14th and 43rd minutes and CY Goddard also found one in the 44th minute. The win takes Mumbai City to 37 points and cuts ATK Mohun Bagan’s lead at the top to only three points.
Line Up
Mumbai City opted to play with an attacking unit in a 4-3-2-1 formation, with Raynier Fernandes making his 50th appearance for the islanders. Odisha FC opted for a 4-5-1 defensive formation with Odisha FC captain Steven Taylor playing the 400th game of his career.
First Half
Mumbai started the game as expected dominating the game. But the first breakthrough of the game was in favour of Odisha. Kalinga Warriors went 1-0 up after MCFC’s Ahmed Jahouh briought Jerry down inside the box and gave away a penalty in the 9th minute. Diego Mauricio didn’t make a mistake sending the goalkeeper the wrong way. However, Jahouh went on to make up for his mistake with his assist to Bartholomew Ogbeche bringing Mumbai City FC back on level terms in the 14th minute.
The Islanders dominated the rest of the first half as Lefronte and Jahouh threaded the attacking play for BFC in the final third. Ogbeche and Bipin Singh continued to threaten a sloppy Odisha backline with several chances created between them. MCFC then went ahead in the 38th minute after a quick interplay between Goddard and Ogbeche on the right.
A shot taken by Ogbeche rebounded and fell for Bipin, who sent it past the goalkeeper to make it 2-1. 5 minutes later, an unmarked Ogbece on the far post headed in his second, from a beautiful freekick from Jahouh. A little over a minute later, Odisha’s defensive frailty left them vulnerable as Bipin Singh’s pass to Goddard was clinically finished as he rattled it into the goal. Odisha failed to create any serious chances in the first half as they were constantly pinned back into their half.
Second Half
The second half started with MCFC unsurprisingly dominating the game with Bipin Singh managing to find the back of the net shortly after the restart. Ogbeche found Bipin perfectly inside the box setting him up to hit the ball past Odisha Goalkeeper Arshdeep Singh. The Islanders were keeping possession with Odisha struggling to hit them on the break. Jerry Mawihmingthanga continued to be the only threat and Mumbai found it difficult managing him as the young Indian national often found space to to relieve the pressure on his team.
Arshdeep Singh, who had a difficult night also managed to make an impressive save to deny Jahouh a goal in the 84th minute from the penalty spot. However MCFC managed to send Odisha into despair as Bipin completed his hat-trick in the 87th minute of the game. Rowllin Borges’s shot was saved initially by Arshdeep but fell perfectly on the rebound for Bipin Singh to finish the night off for Mariners.
Odisha now sit with just 9 points at the bottom of the table, with just one win in 19 matches this season. This leaves them with 1 more match left to be played this season.
What’s Next
Jamshedpur FC will host Bengaluru FC on the 25th February 2020.
