Ahmedabad: Mumbai Knights FC rallied back from a goal down to beat Sports Odisha by 2-1 in an Indian Women’s League (IWL) 2023 Group A league match played at the Transstadia here on Saturday.
Having suffered their first defeat against East Bengal on Thursday, Mumbai Knights had just under 48 hours to bounce back from that 4-2 defeat.
Head coach Rutuja Gunwant went with a 4-3-3 with Kashmira in goal. Pranita, Ritu, Afreen and Mansi formed the back four with Pranita and Mansi as fullbacks.
Velanie, Karen and Sushmita formed the midfield three with Karen as the playmaker. Alexandra, Karishma and Priyanka were the front three for this match.
Both teams made a cautious start to the game as they came into this match on the back of contrasting results. Sports Odisha were wary of the fact that Mumbai Knights FC would be looking to bounce from their hard-fought 4-2 loss.
But there was a setback for Mumbai Knights as they went behind when Anju put Sports Odisha in front in the 34th minute.
Mumbai Knights needed a response and they got it as Ritu Rani levelled the score making it 1-1 in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time. Sports Odisha thought they would take a 1-0 lead at the break but it wasn’t to be.
With a goal that late in the half, Mumbai Knights had the momentum and made a bright start to the second half where they won a penalty immediately at the start.
Karishma made no mistake from the spot as she converted the spot kick to make it 2-1 in favour of Mumbai Knights FC.
Mumbai Knights made a couple of changes as Alexandra was replaced by Namrata Thakur at the start of the second half and Namrata made way for Janhavi Shetty in the 90th minute.
With another three points sealed, Mumbai Knights grabbed their third win in five games and get back to winning ways. They now have 10 points from 5 matches, just three behind Gokulam Kerala FC who won 14-1 against Kahaani FC.
As far as Mumbai Knights are concerned, they now have a couple of days off and return to action on Tuesday when they face HOPS FC at the Shahibaug Police Ground.
(IANS)
