Bengaluru FC suffered their fourth defeat on the spin as they went down 4-0 to an in-form Mumbai City FC at the Mumbai Football Arena, in Mumbai, on Thursday. Goals from Jorge Pereyra Diaz, Lalengmawia Ralte, Bipin Singh and Lallianzuala Chhangte were enough to seal the points for Des Buckingham’s side, who went within a point of League leaders Hyderabad FC. The result kept the Blues second from bottom on the table, with just four points from six games.
Simon Grayson made two changes to the side that went down to East Bengal last week, with Sunil Chhetri and Aleksandar Jovanovic making way for Danish Farooq and Alan Costa. In attack, Roy Krishna led the line while Udanta Singh was deployed down the right flank. Buckingham, meanwhile, made no changes to the side that ran out 6-2 winners against Chennaiyin FC.
Bengaluru began on the offensive, and had the first chance of the half when Namgyal Bhutia’s cross into a dangerous area was cut away by Rostyn Griffiths before Krishna could get a touch on it. Moments later, a floodlight failure that lasted well over 11 minutes prompted referee Ramaswamy Krishna to stop play.
Bengaluru were behind just moments after the resumption of play when Costa was dispossessed by Jorge Pereyra Diaz, allowing the Argentine striker to race through on goal and slot past Gurpreet, Bengaluru pulled together and created chances aplenty, but couldn’t apply the finishing touch with efforts from Javi Hernandez, Udanta and Krishna pulling saves from Phurba Lachenpa in the Mumbai goal.
Bengaluru found themselves two goals down when a Mumbai attack found Greg Stewart in space down the flank. The Scot’s cross into the box was for Bipin Singh to attack, but under pressure from Bhutia, the Mumbai winger let it roll for Lalengmawia, who found himself unmarked and able to slot past Gurpreet.
Bengaluru were pegged back less than fifteen minutes into the second period when Stewart managed to beat the offside trap and run through on goal, before finding an arriving Bipin, who made no mistake to tap home past Gurpreet. Past the hour mark, Grayson rang in his first change, replacing Danish with Chhetri.
In the 74th minute, Mumbai broke free after Suresh was dispossessed, and with the ball bobbling around the 18-yard-box, Chhangte pounced and unleashed a half-volley that nestled in at the bottom corner. Bengaluru made more changes, with Suresh making way for Rohit Kumar, while Mumbai sent on Alberto Noguera, Mourtada Fall and Rowllin Borges to see out the game.
The Blues stay on the road, with their next encounter in the Indian Super League an away clash against FC Goa at the Fatorda Stadium on 26th November.
Bengaluru FC Media Release