Down to 10 men half an hour into the game, a stubborn and determined Mumbai FC defended stoutly to hold Pune FC to a 1-1 draw in a rough and tough I-League football match here today.
The home team, who went ahead in the fourth minute itself through a spectacular long-range shot by hard-working Japanese midfielder Taisuke Matsugae, were reduced to 10 men when another key midfielder Sampath Kuttimani was shown the red card by the referee for a cynical foul on rival medio Dhanpal Ganesh.
However, they defended stoutly as they had done here at their home venue - Cooperage ground - for the rest of the match before a 76th minute goal by Pune FC's overlapping full back Raju Yumnam earned the visitors the equaliser.
But after this equaliser, the Pune outfit were unable to breach the Mumbai FC defense in which goalkeeper Nidhin Lal and central defenders Chika Wali and Justin Stephen stood out.
The draw, the second for Mumbai FC on the trot here and third overall, helped the home team maintain their sixth position in the league table with 12 points while Pune, after their fourth draw, were in third spot with 16 points behind leaders Mohun Bagan (18) and holders Bengaluru FC (17).
Pune were clearly the superior outfit against the hard-tackling Mumbai who went ahead by a dream goal from Matsugae and then had to defend with all their might against the rampaging visiting team who clearly missed a capable striker up front to convert their domination into a clear-cut victory.
Matsugae saw the rival custodian A Debnath way out of his line and booted over the goalkeeper with an amazing shot from 10 yards inside his own half, catching the entire Pune team and especially Debnath by total surprise.
But Mumbai spoilt its own cause by resorting to rough play soon after this superb strike by Matsugae, who later came to their defense too by making a goal-line save to win the man of the match award.
Kuttimani was the biggest culprit as he, without any sense or purpose, hacked Ganesh deliberately in the midfield wide on the flank to be sent off. He will now miss Mumbai FC's next two games too.
