Modou Sougou scores twice as Mumbai City edge Hyderabad

Modou Sougou netted a brace as Mumbai City climbed back into the top four with a 2-1 win against Hyderabad FC on Sunday at the Mumbai Football Arena. 

There was an early sign of danger for Hyderabad when Diego Carlos beat his marker down the left flank and forced a save off the keeper seconds into the game. The visitors’ fears came true as Mumbai City took the lead in the sixth minute. 

Subhasish Bose intercepted a pass and fed the ball to Carlos. The Brazilian winger took the ball towards the byline and provided a cut-back for Modou Sougou in the centre of the box who slammed home his first goal of the season. 

Mumbai continued to threaten and could have doubled their lead in the 17th minute. Mohamed Larbi set Carlos up well for a shot with a cut-back but the winger’s shot failed to hit the target. 

The Nizams went close a couple of times before the break. Firstly, when Gurtej Singh passed the ball into the feet of Asish Rai from a corner. The full-back delivered a delectable cross into the box for Bobo whose header astonishingly flies over the crossbar. 

Minutes later, Giles Barnes found Rohit Kumar in the box with another good cross but the midfielder headed wide from six yards out. 

An excellent bit of goal-line defending by Rai denied Mumbai City at the stroke of half-time. He blocked two shots on goal one after the another from Larbi’s corner as Mato Grgic and Modou Sougou attempted to find the net from close-range. 

The visitors failed to score from a golden chance soon after the restart as they chased an equaliser. A Barnes free-kick ended up at the feet of Adil Khan whose shot came off the post. Bobo pounced on the loose ball but the striker’s shot was blocked by Mathew Kilgallon. 

The visitors improved as the game wore on and were denied by the post again close to the hour-mark. Marcelinho collected a pass from Bobo, cut inside and shot towards goal only to see the effort come off the post. 

Hyderabad was helped on their course when Sarthak Golui picked up his second yellow of the game for a bad challenge on Marcelinho. However, somewhat against the run of play, Mumbai City managed to double their lead. 

Bidyananda Singh delivered a wonderful lob to the right side of the box for Sougou who netted his second goal of the night with a delightful chip over an onrushing Kamaljit and into the net. 

Hyderabad managed to pull a goal back through Bobo when Rai’s cross was guided into the net by the striker with the help of a deflection off Pratik Choudhari but it ended up being nothing more than a consolation.