After a thumping victory over Mohun Bagan at their home crowd in Kannur, Viva Kerala faced Mumbai FC at the Sahu Maharaj Ground at Kohlapur, Maharashtra on Saturday. The Kerala club failed miserably as Mumbai FC found the back of the net twice to hand a 2-0 away defeat.
The first half remained pretty eventless despite the home team, mumbai FC, coming close to scoring a couple of times, but goal keeper Shahinlal Meloly doing well to keep the ball away from the goal. In the 40th minute, Dane Perriera produced a save from him and again in the 43rd minute, Kuttymani came close to scoring.
Both the goals came in the second half after a goalless first half and was scored by Mumbai FC's Nigerian midfielder Ebi Sukore. The first goal went in ten minutes into the second half. Kuttymani tried to convert from a close range, but hte ball hit the upright and rebounded for the waiting Sukore to smash in. Viva Kerala's keeper Shahinlal had no chance for a save.
Viva Kerala went into attack in the dying minutes to get at least a point from the fixture, but Mumbai scored the second in the additional minutes of the second half. It was a penalty kick converted by Sukore, gifting the second for him and the club.
Sukore was declared Man of the Match for his brace.
In other matches, AIFF XI produced another good result by holding Goan giants Dempo SC, while East Bengal ar back winning with a 1-0 defeat of Pune FC. The match between Salgaocar SC and Churchill Brothers at Goa was a seven goal thriller which ended in favour of Salgaocar. Ryuji Seouka scored two for the winners.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Saturday 8 January 2011, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.
Comments · 1
Viva,
viva kerala need a natural striker, a player who can shoot with both feet and also who has instinct finisher, means the striker should be aware about the situation before getting the ball, man on the right place and shoot without dribling too much. viva do not have striker of such calibre.... coach, if i were u, i would try some other players on such position. viva needs few more quality players...