Mumbai lose winning momentum on poor defence and bravado as ATK outwit them 4-1

IAIN HUME FINALLY CAME THROUGH for Atletico de Kolkata as his fantastic hat-trick led the way for a revival of the defending champions' fledging campaign. They beat Mumbai City 4-1 at their own backyard to claim a move back into the top four. 

Mumbai City made two changes to the side that beat NorthEast United 5-1 in this ground. Juan Aguilera came in for Cristian Bustos and Anelka finally got tired of all the "when will you play" questions and started himself up front instead of Frederic Piquionne. 

The Atletico de Kolkata starting XI wasn't devoid of surprises either. Arnab Mondal, Rino Anto and Baljit Sahni were left out to be replaced by Syed Rahim Nabi, Denzil Franco and Jewel Raja, many of them playing out of position. Also, nobody expected Raja to start due to his recent injury. 

The match began with both teams making some early probes and awkward moves as they tried to settle into a rhythm. Borja tried to make a good pass but no one got to it, and Mehta's long throw in did not get to Anelka as Tiri won the aerial ball.

Sony Norde looked threatening when his corner kick bent beautifully into the goal, with Amrinder Singh somehow managing to get in its way. Could have been a memorable goal.

Mumbai City's forward line showed a flash of brilliance when Chhetri and Anelka played a little one-two and got the ball to Aguilera. Aguilera lobbed the ball for Anelka who ran into the box with only Amrinder up ahead. The ATK goalie ran ahead and managed to dispossess Anelka. 

The game continued with some back and forth as Mumbai continued to be the more attacking side. They hogged the possession as much as possible and passed around in order to make the Kolkata defence break rank. 

ATK tried to get back a few times. Gavilan passed to Doutie who tried to pass to Jewel Raja but missed him and found Borja who was at a distance. Seeing no other option the Spanish medio took the shot but it was nowhere on target.

Mumbai countered with Anelka's pass to Subash which got cleared but reached Chhetri. The joint leading goalscorer took the shot but missed the target again. 

And then things fell apart for Mumbai City very quickly. Gavilan ran with the ball in a counter and scooped it towards Iain Hume who had to leap in the air and take the shot. The timing was perfect, Subrata could not reach the ball. Iain Hunme had scored his first goal for ATK. It was one nil to the visitors.

The game continued with end to end intensity increasing, with Norde makin a couple of moves for Mumbai but failing to trouble the ATK defence. And then came a major blunder. 

Subash Singh blatantly fouled Gavilan inside the penalty box. It was an easy spot kick for the referee to call. Iain Hume stepped up and converted it, sending the defending champions 2-0 up. 

As the first half ended the defending champions were well on their way to make a revival after 3 straight defeats and it was going to take nothing short of an all-out push from Mumbai City to get something out of this game. And that's exactly what Anelka did at half-time. Or at least tried to.

He took all 3 of his substitutions at the start of the second half. Selim Benachour came on to replace Darren O'Dea, Frederic Piquionne took the place of Frantz Bertin. Rowilson Rodrigues took to the field instead of Subash Singh who had been slightly off tonight and unnecessarily gave away the peanlty.

The match began with some high voltage, on-the-edge action as the home side announced their intent to chase the game. Ashutosh Mehta got a yellow for a two-footed tackle. Then Borja revenge-fouled Mehta and got booked as well. 

Anelka came through with his class with a brilliant heightened pass to Feredric who was within scoring range but Nato got to him and cleared the ball for corner. 

Mumbai City were by now knocking on the ATK defence's door. Anelka's sharp pass for Aguilera saw him combine with Benachour and set up Piquionne who turned and made a good shot, on target, but Amrinder threw himself to make a brilliant and crucial save. 

ATK quickly rose to counter with Franco passing to Gavilan who forwarded the ball to Iain Hume. Hume took a strong shot at the goal that beat the keeper but hit the crossbar; the Canadian was an inch too high to get his hat-trick.

Under pressure, Habas started making corrections in the defence. Syed Rahim Nabi, who had played out of position all night, went out to make way for Rino Anto. And soon Gavilan was replaced by Javi Lara. 

Then Mumbai City got one back. Aguilera's long ball made its way into the penalty box, took a touch from Piquionne, reached Chhetri who had a go at the goal but Amrinder managed to punch it away. But unfortunately for him the ball went straight to Selim Benachour and the substitute made no mistake putting it away. The scoreline now read 1-2 with 20 minutes to go and it seemed like the game was on.

But before Mumbai had a chance to get level ATK had scored again. It was Sameehg Doutie who combined with Augustin Fernandes to get past the home defence and Augustin made no mistake putting it away. 1-3.

And then Iain Hume got his satisfaction by completing the hat-trick. Doutie got his second assist within 5 minutes as he got past Ashutosh Mehta (just like he did for the third goal) and set up the Canadian striker with a cross for a rather relaxed finish with the left foot. ATK were 3 goals ahead and the game was sealed.

In the last few minutes Anelka got a couple of chances but didn't manage to keep them on target. But it was too late anyway. The winning streak of Mumbai City was over and the defending champions had managed to sucker punch their way back into the top four. After 7 matches both teams are now at 10 points, but due to this 3 goal haul (one of the biggest away wins ever for ATK) the Kolkata side has moved ahead in goal difference to knock Mumbai down to 5th.

While this isn't the end of the road for either team, suddenly things are looking wildly different. ATK look like a team whose hard work has paid off; as they are back on track after three hard-fought 1 goal losses. And Mumbai City look like a side derailed. Of the 5 back-to-back home games they won only 3 and now for the rest of the season they will have to travel between every single match. The road ahead suddenly looks a lot darker for Anelka and his boys as they prepare to face a flurry of tough away games, starting with a tryst with Delhi on Friday. For Atletico de Kolkata, it's crucial to keep things in perspective as they prepare to take on NorthEast United at home on Saturday; a team they had lost to in the first leg. The team seems to have regained its touch and Habas will be happy but what they have ahead is no cakewalk either.