Pailan Arrows could hardly play their natural game on a soggy pitch with unrelenting rain against an aerial Mumbai FC at the Keenan Stadium on Friday.
They did however, manage to come back twice after falling behind very early in the match to draw 2-2 courtesy goals from D Ganesh and Deepak Devrani. For Mumbai, ND Opara scored a brace.
With this match Arrows move to two points from two matches while Mumbai FC muster only one from the same number of matches.
With this win, Dempo have four points from two matches
Talking about the match, Arrows did not give up after conceding the goal in the opening exchanges of the match. They took the aerial route when passing became virtually impossible and came close to scoring a few as well. They fought breavely and did not let Mumbai FC have the upper hand at any point of the match except on two occasions.
Opara headed home the second goal in the 62nd minute. Arrows came back again in the 78th minute with substitute Deepak Devrani slotting home comfortably from a Alwyn George corner.
Shaiju Mon was rewarded for his good show after coming on a s asecond half substitute in the last match. Prathamesh Maulingkar also found his place in the starting XI along with D Ganesh.
Meanwhile, Dempo rode Clifford Miranda’s inch perfect free kick in the 45th minute to secure their first win of the Federation Cup in their Group A match against Shillong Lajong.
Miranda curled the ball on the top right hand corner of the goal from the set piece to score the winner just at the stroke of half time. With this match Dempo have four points from two matches while Shillong Lajong remain on three from as many matches.
