Adam Le Fondre
Adam Le Fondre struck twice as Mumbai City FC outplayed SC East Bengal 3-0 in their Indian Super League clash at the GMC Stadium here on Tuesday.
Hugo Boumous assisted all three goals as a brace from Adam Le Fondre (20', 48') and a strike from Hernan Santana (58') saw Mumbai register their second straight win with SCEB yet to open their account.
The Islanders broke the deadlock in the 20th minute with a superb counter-attack from Hugo Boumous, who beat his marker and found Le Fondre, who made an easy tap in.
All hell broke loose after the changeover as East Bengal conceded twice in space of 10 minutes with Fondre completing his brace from a penalty in the 48th minute.
Spanish midfielder Hernan Santana then nailed in a goal in the 58th from an Ahmed Jahouh pass to take the Islanders to the top of the table, alongside ATK Mohun Bagan.
The Sergio Lobera side now have six points from three matches, while SC East Bengal remained at the bottom of the table, yet to open their account in their debut ISL season.
This was a second successive defeat for the Robbie Fowler-coached SCEB who lost to their arch-rivals ATK Mohun Bagan by a solitary goal on their ISL debut.
The red and gold suffered an early setback when their captain Daniel Fox sustained an injury and had to be replaced by Mohammed Rafique in the seventh minute.
East Bengal got a chance in the 19th minute but Rafique's shot was denied by a diving Amrinder Singh.
Then it was Mumbai City FC who rule the proceedings starting with a supreme counter-attack.
It was Rowllin Borges who played a long ball to Boumous on the left flank as he went past a sloppy Surchandra Singh to set up the goal for Fondre.
After the changeover, SCEB goalkeeper Majumder came out of his line and committed a foul as the referee blew the whistle, pointing to the spot.
Fondre doubled the lead sending the ball to the opposite side of a diving Majumder.
The Islanders got their third goal when Jahouh delivered a fantastic ball from the free-kick and Santana took control of it before smashing it into the bottom right corner.
SC East Bengal looked really unorganised in the defence and Surchandra playing as the left back looked completely out of place.
