ISL: Goain hands Mumbai last-minute winner over North East United

Achille Emana Edzimbi left of Mumbai FC fights for a ball with Mamadu Samba Cande of NorthEast United FC during their Hero Indian Super League ISL soccer match in Mumbai India Thursday Feb 22 2018 PicAPPTICaptain Lucian Goian scored a last minute winner to guide Mumbai City FC to a thrilling 32 victory over North East United FC and keep alive their playoff hopes in the Indian Super League football tournament here todayRomanian Goian who was the villain in the first half after conceding an own goal to allow North East take a 21 halftime lead finally made amends in brilliant fashion to sweep home a chip into the box sent by Raju Gaekwad in the 90th minute and provide a great finish for the home team when the match looked headed towards a drawMumbai who needed to win all three remaining matches to have a realistic chance of making the fourteam playoffs took an early lead but fell behind 12 before half time They equalised early in the second half but could not break open the North East defense till Goian applied the finishing touch to a fine chip to the far post by Gaekwad The victory also halted the hosts fourgame losing streak at the Mumbai Football Arena and helped them boost their tally to 23 points with two away games in hand against Delhi Dynamos and Chennaiyin FC both of which they need to win in order to qualify for the semifinalsGoians own goal had earlier cancelled out the 15th minute lead Mumbai secured via Cameroonian Achille Emana Lying bottomofthetable North East who are out of the race for the last four fought back brilliantly They applied sustained pressure on the Mumbai defense which looked a bit shaken and also conceded an own goal to first equalise through Goians own goal and then took the lead just before half time via Portuguals SambinhaBut Mumbai also bounced back by scoring early in the second half through Everton Santos who had a fine game again and then got the lastditch matchwinner from GoianMumbai dominated the first 20 minutes of the half before the visitors hit back strongly After T R Rehenesh came up with a fine save early on with his leg to deny Everton Santos Mumbai took the lead in the 15th minute when the mercurial Emana found the mark after being left alone to take his time by the visitors defenseEmana got the ball off a shallow cross from Santos switched the ball from left foot to right and then shot it into the left corner between the post and a diving Rehenesh It was the 35yearold Cameroon players third goal of the season after his strikes against Chennaiyin FC in December and FC Goa last monthNine minutes later North East equalised but in a fortuitous manner through an own goal conceded by Goian who had replaced Gerson Vieira in the eleven for the gameGoian tried to clear an angular try from Gursimrat Singh Gill that looked heading wide of the far post only to deflect the ball into his own goal past a hapless custodian Amrinder SinghNorth Easts second goal came in the 43nd minute soon after Rehenesh had kept out a free kick from Mumbais Brazilian player Marcio Rozario followed by the visiting teams Colombian recruit John Mosquera blasting over the bar Crossing over Mumbai started with purpose and got rewarded in the 54th minute when the ebullient Everton hoodwinked a couple of defenders and found the mark with a right footed shot from close range He was fed from the left by Rafael Jorda who got hold of a freekick from well outside the penalty area taken by Sehnaj SinghIt was the equaliser that Mumbai needed to keep going in their quest for a victory And it was finally left to Goian to make amends in splendid style with a superb effort that beat Rehenesh all ends upCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever