Mumbai City FC played host to Kerala Blasters FC in a Hero Indian Super League (ISL) encounter at the D.Y. Patil Stadium on Sunday.

Peter Reid’s team produced the first chance to the game, when André Francisco Moritz sent in a dangerous corner and Kerala Blasters goalkeeper Sandip Nandy managed to clear the situation despite some pressure by Manuel Friedrich.

But Kerala Blasters were the ones to have the next few chances, but the visitors from “God’s own Country” couldn’t find the target and they were not able to take some advantage from their possession.

Mumbai City took the lead moments before the half-time break, when former French superstar Nicolas Anelka hit the target with a stunning curling free kick. Ishfaq Ahmed gave away the free kick when he brought down Jan Stohanzl outside the box and Anelka stepped up to show his class to hand the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Kerala Blasters always looked capable of scoring the equalisier in an evenly balanced match in the second half.

Singam Subash Singh missed the golden opportunity to score the vital second goal for the hosts, when the unmarked Indian striker received a pass from Anelka and somehow put the ball over the crossbar.

Mumbai City could have further increased their lead as the game progressed but Anelka’s goal was the lone one of the game at the D.Y. Patil Stadium.

Mumbai City FC claimed a vital 1-0 win against Kerala Blasters FC to keep their ambitions alive.

2014 Hero Indian Super League
at D.Y. Patil Stadium, Mumbai

MUMBAI CITY FC 1-0 KERALA BLASTERS FC

GOALS
1-0 Nicolas Anelka (44′)

LINE-UPS

Mumbai City FC
1 Subrata Pal – 17 Deepak Kumar Mondal, 27 Pavel Cmovs, 5 Manuel Friedrich, 19 Syed Rahim Nabi [C] – 21 André Francisco Moritz, 2 Johan Letzelter, 6 Jan Stohanzl, 20 Lalrindika Ralte (59′ 14 Nadong Bhutia) – 12 Singam Subash Singh (90′ 7 Rohit Mirza), 39 Nicolas Anelka

Unused Subs
31 Ishan Debnath, 41 André Preto – 3 Raju Eknath Gaikwad, 4 Tiago Ribeiro, 9 Abhishek Yadav, 11 Javi Fernández, 13 Ram Malik, 16 Peter Costa

Kerala Blasters FC
24 Sandip Nandy – 5 Nirmal Chettri, 32 Colin Falvey, 2 Cedric Hengbart, 15 Sandesh Jhingan – 10 Iain Hume, 11 Ishfaq Ahmed (66′ 7 Sushanth Mathew), 25 Stephen Pearson – 9 Pedro Gusmao (66′ 88 Milagres Gonsalves), 18 Penn Ikechukwu Orji [C] (52′ 27 Andrew Barisic) – 12 CS Sabeeth

Unused Subs
30 Luis Xavier Barreto – 3 Jamie McAllister, 4 Ramandeep Singh, 21 Godwin Franco, 22 Raphaël Romey, 23 Avinabo Bag, 29 Saumik Dey, 44 Erwin Spitzner

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee
…

Assistant Referees
…, …

Fourth Official
…

BOOKINGS

Yellow Cards
82′ Johan Letzelter (Mumbai City FC)
83′ Nirmal Chettri (Kerala Blasters FC)
90’+2′ Stephen Pearson (Kerala Blasters FC)

Yellow-Red Cards
none

Red Cards
none

MAN OF THE MATCH

Nicolas Anelka (Mumbai City FC)