ISL 2017: Emiliano Alfaro brace sneaks win for FC Pune City
The hosts dominated the game and had better chances but goalkeeper Amrinder Singh-led defence was solid at the back.
Pune: Emiliano Alfaro’s second-half goals gave FC Pune City 2-1 a deserving victory over Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League Maharashtra derby clash at Balewadi Sports Complex here on Wednesday. Balwant Singh scored a stunner in the first half which was cancelled out by Alfaro from the spot. Alfaro then scored a late goal on the counter to complete a brace and seal win for the hosts. Pune City have now six points and Mumbai City three from three games.
The hosts dominated the game and had better chances but goalkeeper Amrinder Singh-led defence was solid at the back.
After a midfield duel, Pune City defender Baljit Sahni made a mistake giving Balwant a sniff but he couldn’t capitalise. However, the ball reached Gerson Fraga Vieira after a half clearance, who had a powerful long-range strike dealt well by goalkeeper Kamaljit Singh.
But Balwant, operating from the left wing, had his say as he put visitors in lead in the 15th minute with a surprise right-footed aerial strike from outside the box that swung into the left corner giving Kamaljit no chance to reach it.
Pune had a chance in the 22nd minute to restore parity but Amrinder showed great reflexes to deny Diego Carlos de Oliveira. Mumbai were forced to defend deep as the home side were on the offensive.
Amrinder took care of two left-footed free-kicks from Marcelo towards the end of first half and young Rohit Kumar had an open chance inside the box but he was late on to the ball as the visitors went to break 1-0 up.
Pune City were all over the visitors in the second half also but they couldn’t breach the Mumbai defense until Marcelo sent in a cross for Emiliano Alfaro, who failed to make contact with the ball in the 54th minute. The home side’s persistence paid off finally in the 74th minute when Alfaro calmly converted a penalty after sending Amrinder the wrong way. The penalty was conceded by Raju Gaikwad, who brought down Deigo inside the box.
Alfaro had a close-range chance and he kicked it straight to Amrinder, but won it in injury time after beating the keeper from Diego’s long-range through ball.