Mahindras thrash wasteful Sporting

With the win, Derrick Pereira’s team now have six points from five matches while Sporting have two. Sporting, who came out strongly in the second half, had only themselves to blame as they failed to capitalise on the chances that came their way today.

Mahindras goalkeeper Sandip Nandy also came up with some good saves.

The Mumbai outfit, who had an indifferent start with three draws and a loss, took an early lead. The teams had hardly settled down when Surajit Bose caught the rival defence napping with a through pass to D Pierre, who beat custodian Felix D’Souza with a deft placement.

Mahindras slowly took control of the midfield and could have increased the lead, but Surajit twice failed to beat keeper Felix, who brought off some good saves.

After the change of ends, Sporting got a chance to equalise, but Rajesh Meetei shot over from close.

Off a counter-attack, Mahindras increased the lead in the 52nd minute. Sushant Mathew from the left sent a cross to Andrews Pomeyie, who controlled the ball at the top of the box and released it to Dias who slammed home.

Sporting created several scoring chances and were unlucky in the 83rd minute when Elijah Ebagbemiro’s shot hit the post.

Substitute Tarif Ahmed sealed Sporting’s fate when he beat D’Souza with a fine placement off a pass from Dias.

On Saturday, Viva Kerala will try to make the most of their home advantage when they take on an out-of-form Salgaocar at the Corporation Stadium.

With five points from four outings, Viva will look to increase their tally in the first of the nine home matches to be played here. Salgaocar are struggling to find form in the League with only two points from four matches.