Mumbai, Dec 30 (IANS) Alaaeddine Ajaraie scored a brace of goals as NorthEast United FC defeated Mumbai City FC 3-0 in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 at the Mumbai Football Arena here on Monday night. Macarton Nickson scored the third goal for NorthEast as they secured a convincing victory on the road.
This was the first time that the Highlanders triumphed over the Islanders in their last seven ISL meetings. Despite dominating 65.2% of the possession, Mumbai City FC could take only three shots on target, as compared to the seven of the visitors. The home team took 31 crosses but were unable to muster up concrete chances in the final third. The match started with NorthEast United FC netting in the 46th second of the match through Ajaraie, in what turned out to be the fastest goal by the Highlanders in an ISL game, beating the previous best by VP Suhair (01:42 vs Mohun Bagan Super Giant on December 21, 2021).
The visitors won the ball back from Nikolaos Karelis in the opening move of the game before Parthib Gogoi brought down a long ball with a delicate touch on the right flank and sent in a probing cross that Ajaraie nestled into the centre of the goal from close range. This strike broke Mumbai City FC’s four-game-long streak of keeping clean sheets, and it also resulted in the second-fastest goal conceded by the Islanders in the ISL history after Cleiton Silva’s goal in 25 seconds on February 15, 2021, against them.
It was also the quickest that any player has found the back of the net in the current campaign of the ISL. Troubles mounted for Mumbai City FC when Ajaraie stepped up to take a spot-kick in the 25th minute. NorthEast United FC earned that penalty because of a handball by Hardik Bhatt. The attacker had a great opportunity to bag his brace, but his shot on the right side was saved immediately by goalkeeper TP Rehenesh’s diving effort. This was the fourth time that Rehenesh saved a penalty kick in the competition and the first instance of him doing so for Mumbai City FC. Rehenesh again saved the home side the blushes with his dual save in the 56th minute.
Trying to work his way out the last line of the defence, Ajaraie pulled off a skillful shot near the centre that Rehenesh quickly thwarted. However, the Highlanders’ star pounced upon the rebound and launched it towards the left end of the goal, which was again kept out by the Mumbai City FC custodian.
Ajaraie didn’t cut down on exerting pressure on the opposition’s backline, instead interlinking seamlessly with Macarton Nickson impeccably in the 83rd minute to secure his second goal of the game. It was an exciting passage of play for the visitors where they finally showed enough efficiency to convert the chances that they created. They unravelled the Petr Kratky-coached side’s defence with a variety of options, both through patient build-up and the occasional burst of direct attacks. This particular instance saw Macarton pick Ajaraie at the perfect spot in the centre of the box before the latter drilled it into the bottom left corner.
As play resumed after the goal, the Highlanders maintained the momentum they had created, rounding off another offensive endeavour in the 86th minute through Macarton amid a slightly crowded box with a slick finish that saw the ball sail its way into the bottom right corner to consolidate the Highlanders’ lead heading into the final passage of the game.
Mumbai City FC feature next against East Bengal FC on January 6 and NorthEast United FC will be playing Mohammedan SC on January 3.
–IANS
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