MATCH REPORT: Mumbai's final act stuns defending champs as Norde steals victory in ATK's backyard

IN A CONTEST OF attacks and counter-attacks that stayed alive till the last minute, Mumbai City managed to grab the first ever away win in the franchise's short history as they defeated Atletico de Kolkata by a 3-2 margin thanks to a two-goal spirited performance from Sony Norde. 

Antonio Habas, seeking a top-of-the-table finish to the campaign, put out a strong team against bottom-table Mumbai City, making 3 changes to the side -- deploying Juan Calatayud at goal, and drafting Mohammed Rafique and Nalappan Mohanraj back into the starting eleven.

Nicolas Anelka made 5 changes. Pavel Cmovs, Kegan Pereira, Selim Benachour, Thangjam Singh and Pratesh Shirodkar got to start in Mumbai City's last match of the season. 

Mumbai City, who came into the game thoroughly underprepared, looked good from the start. Sony Norde, playing in his old stomping ground in front of his old fans, came alive early on. He got in quickly, sending a good cross to Sunil Chhetri but it got intercepted by Augustine Fernandes. Then ATK rose in a counter, with Hume invading the Mumbai box but shooting just wide. 

But an early injury forced Mumbai to make a substitution; Rowilson had to be replaced by Ashutosh Mehta. 

But as the minutes passed, Mumbai emerged as the side clearly dominating and at the helm of it all was Sony Norde. He sent in a good free kick for Chhetri to head in but the Indian skipper sent it wide. And then Sony scored. 

It wasn't a goal actually. A pass from Selim Benachour saw Sony Norde stand offside inside the penalty box but the linesman did not notice that. Sony got the ball and with only Calatayud in front of him, slotted it in with his left foot from close range. One nil to the visitors.

Atletico de Kolkata, however, slowly worked their way back into the game and more than once caught Mumbai defence off guard. Subrata's attempted clearance from the edge of the box reached Iain Hume who had an empty goal to shoot into but he misfired. Then a corner kick delivered by Gavilan saw Subrata fumble and fall trying to collect it but the defenders managed to clear it. 

Then Selim Benachour made a brilliant move, getting past ATK defenders and feeding Chhetri inside the box with only the keeper ahead but the Indian captain failed to keep it on target once again.

And then came the twist in the tale. Mohammed Rafique knocked into Pavel Cmovs when the latter was trying to shield the ball from him inside the penalty box and the referee, for some reason, saw it as a foul, flashed Pavel a yellow and pointed at the penalty spot. The decision was as ridiculous as allowing Sony's goal in early in the half. But it stood, even after a few short arguments with the referee. Iain Hume took the penalty and sent Subrata the other way. It was 1-1, moments before the half-time whistle rang out.

ATK started the second half with Valdo on the pitch replacing Sameehg Doutie. And the substitute immediately got into action by sending a good cross to Rafique whose move was stopped by a tackle from Cristian Bustos.

Then Benachour danced around inside the ATK box, fooling defenders and passing to Sony Norde who tried to pass it back but ATK defenders cleared it. The home team picked up their first booking thanks to a mistimed tackle from Jaime Gavilan. 

Soon the match settled into a back-and-forth contest. An couple of runs from Sony Norde were repelled at the earliest. Hume tried to orchestrate a few moves for the hosts but they were stopped as well.

Soon both coaches went for their second substitutions. Habas replaced Mohammed Rafique with Jewel Raja. Anelka brought Juan Aguilera on for Pratesh Shirodkar. 

A Gavilan free kick created a moment of chaos at the Mumbai City goalmouth as Subrata was caught way out of position and Pavel Cmovs cleared it from the goal line. But the offside flag was already up; so it wouldn't have made a difference even if the ball went in. 

Sunil Chhetri kept coming close in the final minutes of the match. A free kick that he took missed the goal by half a foot. Then his cross to Norde saw the Haitian shoot the ball over the corssbar.

But finally Sunil got the goal he had been seeking all night when Tiri pulled Aguilera's shirt inside the ATK box and the referee immediately called for a penalty. Tiri got a yellow, and Sunil scored from the spot. Mumbai City took a 1-2 lead with just 10 minutes to spare. 

After scoring the goal Sunil simply walked away from the spot. Anelka on the sidelines did not react. Even the Mumbai City players had a muted reaction to the goal that could secure the franchise's first ever win away from home in its one and a half year of existence. The players looked detached, as if they wanted to simply get on and finish the rest of the match and call it a day.

And then a long ball from Lekic saw Arata get on the end of it and fire it into the goal. ATK were even 2-2 with minutes to spare.

The last few minutes saw ATK make a couple of breakneck runs into the Mumbai box that was somehow kept out. But the match had one more major twist left. 

Selim Benachour sent the ball to Sony Norde coming in from the left flank. The Mohun Bagan winger took the ball and sent it in with impunity, scoring his second, and securing the first ever away win for Mumbai City. 

The match ended there, with Mumbai City avoiding a bottom-table finish thanks to their 16 points from 14 matches. The circumstances under which they came in late and went into the playing field without much preparation makes their performance and victory quite laudable, and bears testimony to the quality present in the side.

Unfortunately, this show of flair comes too late in the season; and wasn't enough to wipe away the tag of failure from their campaign gone astray due to lack of able leadership. This Mumbai City FC team was definitely better than what they had last year, but unfortunately, after creating some exciting and beautiful moments on the football pitch, they will disintegrate. Most of the players will be released and the team will look nothing like this next year. It may be the biggest instance of "missed opportunity" in ISL's 2-year history.

For ATK, the loss means they are now in danger of falling to the second position on the table unless Delhi and Goa play out a draw on Sunday. The way Mumbai City dominated them early on must have Habas worried, but the way they fought back and kept creating chances will be a relief. The defending champions have enough chances to rectfy their mistakes as they now prepare for the eventuality of facing teams with similarly lethal attacks like Goa and Chennai. It's not so much the loss that will bother Habas, but the way Selim Benachour, Sony Norde and Sunil Chhetri managed to make space for themselves inside the ATK box. But then again, ATK won't have to face those three players again this year, will they.