Mumbai: NorthEast United struck twice in the second half in a remarkable turnaround to stun Mumbai City FC 2-0 in a Hero Indian Super League match which saw the home side reduced to nine men in the end here on firday .
The home side, who had thrashed Pune City FC 5-0 in their previous match, failed to score a goal despite dominating the proceedings early in the match in front of their home crowd at the D Y Patil Stadium here.
The first half belonged to Mumbai City FC but the visitors came back in the second half with a superior performance as they scored two goals to run away winners in their first away match of the tournament.
Zambia's Kondwani Mtonga grabbed the opener in the 57th minute when he collected Koke's pass to work past the lone defender Tiago Ribeiro and custodian Subrata Paul.
NorthEast United FC doubled the lead in the injury time when James Keene, who came in place of Koke in the 69th minute, fed the ball to Guilherme Felipe who just had to beat the goalkeeper, to seal the issue for the visiting side.
The match also saw some bizarre moments as Mumbai could not send in a replacement for injured marquee player Frederik Ljungberg who pulled his hamstring in the 72nd minute as the home side have used all their substitutions by then, leaving them one man short.
Coach Peter Reid later said that Ljungberg has pulled his hamstring.
Making matters worse, Mumbai were reduced to nine men on the field when Czech defender Pavel Cmovs had to leave the field in the 75th minute after getting his second yellow card of the match.
Mumbai now have just three points from two matches while NorthEast have added three points to their kitty, taking their tally to seven from four games.
Mumbai now take on Chennaiyin FC on October 28 in an away encounter, while NorthEast play against Delhi Dynamos in the capital city on October 29.
