Mumbai City FC put two past FC Pune City at the Mumbai Football Arena to register their first win of the Indian Super League 2018-19 season.
Modou Sougou was involved in both goals as he showed his attacking instincts to get to a rebound ball the fastest and finish off an easy chance in the 25th minute. The second goal came minutes before the end of the first half when the referee awarded a penalty against Pune City for a foul on Sougou. Rafael Bastos did the needful to make it 2-0 before half-time.
Although, Pune City FC will rue the chances missed, the first of which came as early as the first minute when Alfaro failed to head home a Fanai cross from the left wing. Although, the striker did have a legitimate call for a foul turned down in the 40th minute when he was clipped from behind while darting inside the box.
Despite leading 2-0, Mumbai City hadn't exactly been the better team as both teams failed to create enough goalscoring chances. In fact, both the Mumbai goals had fate written all over it, although to their credit, they did take those chances well.
The first Mumbai goal came after a hopeful cross on to the far post from the left corner bounced back off the bar and into the box. Sougou reacted the fastest to blast home the easy chance.
In the 43rd minute, the referee called for the first penalty kick of the season when Lalchhuanmawia Fanai went on a two-footed challenge on Sougou inside the box. Rafael Bastos took the spot kick and went down the middle while goalkeeper Kaith dived to his left, thus doubling his team's lead before half-time.
Having taken the 2-0 lead, Mumbai sat back and tried to slow down the tempo of the game. Pune couldn't break the Mumbai defence and the game settled into a slow affair although Alfaro's 64th minute effort did rattle off the crossbar.
The additional time produced further action when Mumbai City were awarded another penalty of the game. In the 91st minute, Arnold got behind the Pune defence and then went around the goalkeeper who was way outside his area, got inside the box and was clipped down to the ground, prompting the referee to point to the spot. The goalkeeper however correctly guessed and saved Goian's resulting penalty to keep the scoreline 2-0.
Machado had his another shot rattle off the crossbar in the final minute of the game when he got inside the box after playing a beautiful one-two and unleashing a low drive from left to the far post.
The win takes Mumbai to sixth spot in the points table with four points while Pune languish in the second last, ninth spot, with just one point.
 "ISL 2018-19: Mumbai City FC best FC Pune City 2-0 in Maha derby win")
