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Riding on a first-half brace from Mmehak Lobo and a brilliant hat-trick from Priyanka later on, Mumbai Knights produced a clinical display of football as they romped home to a 7-0 win over Footie First.
Mumbai Knights put out a true statement of intent that they may be debutants in the competition but they mean business here. The Steven Dias-managed squad continued their excellent form from Mumbai League to this competition as they produced a clinical performance on their way to a mammoth 7-0 win over Footie first.
The game began with Knights taking early on with the first chance of the game falling to Priyanka Sujeesh as her shot brought out a save from the Footie first keeper. It didn’t take long for Knights to take the lead as in the 18th minute a well-worked move saw Knights left winger Mmehak Lobo making a darting run past her marker to send in a low cross into the box that striker Priyanka did well to tap it into the net.
Five Minutes later, Ritika turned provider as from a corner routine the cross reached deep into the box where an alert Ritika capitalised on a defensive mistake to make it 2-0. A few minutes later, another terrible mistake from Footie’s first keeper allowed Knights to make it 3-0. Mmehak Lobo’s ball into the box was poorly judged by the Footie goalie as the ball sneaked past her hand to land into the net much to the delight of the Knights.
Things went from bad to worse for Footie first when a routine clearance turned into another goal. After doing well to win back the ball from a dangerous position inside her own box, under pressure from an opponent striker, in an attempt to clear the ball away, Virati Gutka ended up shooting the ball into her own goal.
Minutes before the halftime whistle, Mumbai Knights added more misery on their opponent as Mmehak Lobo once again managed to get behind the Footie defense before placing the ball right past an onrushing keeper to make it 5-0 at the break.
The second half story continued in the same vein with Mumbai Knight giving not even a sniffing chance on goal for Footie first. Mmehak Lobo controlled the midfield brilliantly for her side as Footie first found it difficult to break into any counter. Midway through the half, Priyanka showed her shows to beat the marker before setting up Valencia in attack, however, Footie goalie was alert enough to come out of her line, narrowing the angle and pulling off a good save. The second half saw a much better defensively organized Footie side.
Finally, in the dying minutes of the game, Priyanka’s high press forced an error from Footie’s center-half, allowing the knights’ striker to run away with the ball before beating the keeper with a cool calm finish to make it 6-0. Minutes later in injury time, Mumbai pressed high again to once again win the ball with Priyanka sending out a curling effort to find the top right corner.
The game ended at a 7-0 scoreline as Mumbai Knights stamped their authority into the tournament quite evidently becoming one of the title contenders.
Full time – Footie First FC (Virati Gutka 38’) 0 – 7 Mumbai Knights (Priyanka 18’, 89’, 90+1’, Ritika Goveas 23’, Mmehak Lobo 28’, 45+3’)
