Chirag United Kerala FC ended Mumbai Football Club's fine run in the I-League 2011-12, downing the home side to a 2-0 defeat at Pune's Balewadi Sports Complex, thanks to strikes from midfielder Asif K and Cameroonian forward David Sunday. The win came as a respite for the Kerala side before the international break, who are struggling at bottom half of the table.
Chirag was in complete control of the proceedings from the start of the match, creating chances upfront and staying tight at the back. Charles Dzisah had a pretty easy time holding Gbeneme Friday and company, while Asif K and Vineeth CK were impressive from the midfield.
It did not take much time for Chirag to go ahead, as Asif tucked the ball home in the 14th minute, from a cross by Vineeth CK. Chirag has been heavily relying on Vineeth's services from the midfield this season, but this time the team managed to make one such chance count.
Before the first half, Vineeth had two more clear attempts on goal. First, his shot whistled past the goal after beating Mumbai FC custodian Nidhinlal and later, the keeper made an impressive diving save to deny the Chirag midfielder. Chirag kept their 1-0 advantage intact to the second half without any major threat from the opponents.
Mumbai could have equalized early on in the second period of play if it wasn't for Abhishek Yadav who failed to connect to a good looking low cross from Nicholas Rodriguez. And that miss cost them dearly as Chirag doubled their score in the 51st minute through David Sunday. It was substitute Jimshad making his comeback from a long injury lay off, who ran down the wing to play the pass to Sunday who just had to tap the ball into the goal.
Falling into the comfort zone, Chirag Kerala tried to take the pace out of the game in the rest of the game, even though Sunday had a go on goal which was saved by Nidhinlal. At the other end, Sharath K was also at the top of his game, denying a header from Haroon Fakhuruddin and later an effort by Noel Wilson.
Despite going close on a few occasions, Mumbai failed to score gifting Chirag with a rare clean sheet and vital three points. The win takes the away team's point tally to 11 points from 13 games, while Mumbai FC are tenth with 14 points.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Wednesday 4 January 2012, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.