Half Time Report: Mumbai holds on to solitary goal lead as Blasters try hard to pull back

Starting Line-Ups:

Mumbai City FC - Subrata Paul, Frantz Bertin, Cristian Bustos, Sunil Chhetri, Subash Singh, Juan Aguilera, Sony Norde, Aitor Fernandez, Saran Singh, Lalchhuan Mawia, Pavel Cmovs

Kerala Blasters FC - Sandip Nandy, Peter Ramage, Chris Dagnall, Mehtab Hossain, Sandesh Jhingan, Deepak Mondal, Antonio German, Saumik Dey, Pulga, Josue Currais

A JUAN AGUILERA STRIKE off a lethal Sony Norde corner saw Mumbai City gain a crucial 1-0 lead over Kerala Blasters in a crucial round 12 ISL encounter at D Y Patil Stadium; a match where the victor will have a hope to make it to the semi-finals and the defeated team will fall out of that race.

Anelka finally decided to bench himself and was one of the four players from the previous game's starting XI to be dropped. Re-introduced into the Mumbai City line-up were Lalchhuan Mawia, Aitor Fernandez, Subash Singh and the all-important Sony Norde who got his first start since re-joining the squad after national duty for Haiti.

Kerala Blasters coach Terry Phelan decided to surprise the home team by handing season debuts to two players who have spent a long time playing for teams in Mumbai: Deepak Mondal and goalkeeper Sandip Nandy. Apart from them, Joao Coimbra was also recalled into the first eleven. 

With Anelka absent, the Mumbai City attack suddenly seemed to magically regain its flow. They had 3 Indians up front; Chhetri back as the number 10, Saran Singh minding the right flank, and Sony Norde the left with Subash Singh ahead; but Subash and Sony were seen to be changing positions rather effortlessly, creating trouble for the Kerala defence early on.

An early run by Subash up the left saw him find Sunil with a well-placed cross. But Sandesh was there to clear Sunil's shot. Then it was Norde who got the ball in the midfield, made a quick run with the ball, then let fly from the distance but the ball had a lot of pace in it; it just about missed the upper corner of the post otherwise it could have landed Sandip in trouble.

Kerala made a good move in reply; Coimbra, Josue and German moved up in tandem but the final shot, taken from a bit far, was wide.

Mumbai City's pacy midfield was pushing the Blasters a bit too hard so they tried to keep most of the ball and slow things down. But it didn't seem to be working as a barrage of Mumbai attacks saw the pressure slowly build on the visitors.

A pass from Cristian Bustos saw Chhetri run straight ahead with Sandesh trailing him. Sunil passed the ball to Aitor whose faulty attempt at sending the ball forward sent it out of play. Chhetri again pushed ahead, passing it to Norde who fed Subash but Deepak was at hand to make the block.

Then came the precious move that eventually resulted in the home team finding the crucial first goal. Sony Norde fed Sunil, who passed it to Subash. The latter let fly and Sandip Nandy made a great diving save, palming the ball out for a corner. But his troubles were just beginning. 

Sony Norde stepped up to take the corner, and he delivered one of his lethal curlers similar to the one that won the I-League for Mohun Bagan. This time, Sandip was alert. He punched the ball away. But it went to Juan Aguilera. The Spanish medio took the shot. It was going straight towards Sandip. But unfortunately for the ex Mahindra United keeper, a defender's flawed attempt at a clearance saw the ball take a slight deflection, but it was enough to take the ball well out of his reach. He stood and watched as the ball found the net. Mumbai City had found their much needed lead.

Kerala tried to pull back. German tried to find Chris Dagnall, but his shot went to Subrata Paul. Then Dagnall made a run for another long ball, which Pavel managed to clear. Then Josue's through ball found Dagnall in lots of space inside the box with only Subrata ahead. The keeper rushed out, he managed to push Dagnall to an angle but went down trying to close down on him. But by that time Pavel had arrived for help. When Dagnall managed to take the shot, Czech defender was there to clear from the goal-line.

After that the things sort of went quieter and the players chose to see the half out. A couple of chances came for both teams. Aguilera's through ball to Sony saw Sandip Nandy run out and claim the ball from a difficult position. Then Josue Currais sent in a long ranger that Subrata had to be alert to slap away. 

The half ended with Mumbai City leading 1-0. While the home team definitely was the smoother of the two in the first half, Kerala got their chances too. They just did not manage to test Mumbai defence with the periods of pressure their opponents managed to build time and again. However, there was a visible sense of the visitors being defense-heavy; and they will have to drop that and go all-out on the offsensive if they are to chase this game down in the second half.