Iain Hume stole the show with his first Indian Super League (ISL) hat-trick, which came in a crucial match. Atletico de Kolkata thrashed the upbeat Mumbai City FC 4-1 and ended the home side's three-match winning streak in match no. 27 of the ISL 2015 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
Antonio Lopez Habas and his boys in red and white stripes were going through a rough phase, in which they lost three back-to-back games in ISL 2015 and found themselves in some sort of an abyss.
Iain Hume turned the screws as he enrolled his name in the goal scoring list of the ISL 2015 and what a way to do it! The Canadian forward could not find the back of the net in the first six matches he had played for the defending champions.
"We don't have any magical players. We have to be confident with all our players. The whole team was fantastic. Right from the keeper to the forward. I'm very happy with my players today as I was in the last three games. We had commitment today," Atletico de Kolkata head coach Habas told the reporters at the post-match press conference.
"We had to activate the team. Fortunately today everything worked. Different day, different match. It's important that the players remain positive."
Atletico de Kolkata had most of the ball possession in the first half and they converted their chances into goals. The first goal came in the 34th minute of the game from a counter-attack from Jaime Gavilan and Hume. The Spanish midfielder found Hume on the far side of the penalty box and the latter volleyed it past the Mumbai City FC goalkeeper Subrata Paul.
Just before the half-time whistle, Mumbai City FC's Shubhash Singh pulled down Gavilan inside the box and the referee offered a penalty to the visiting team. Hume tricked the goalkeeper yet again and scored his second of the game and ISL 2015.
Selim Benachour pulled one back for the home side in the 71st minute. Nicolas Anelka and his men in blue thought that they would come hard at Atletico de Kolkata in the last 20 minutes of the match, but that did not happen as the visiting team scored two more to further sink the home side's wish of taking their win count to four in a row in ISL 2015.
Augustine Fernandes scored from a header in 76th minute and Hume scored his much-deserved hat-trick in the 81st minute of ISL 2015 match no. 27 on Sunday.
"I think we lost the game in the first half. We played well in the second half. The penalty was a big damage to our state of mind. We were confident for the first 15-20 minutes but ATK played well. They were more eager and hungry than us today. We are going to remain positive. We have an excellent team and we will hold and play well," Mumbai City FC's assistant coach Oscar Bruzon said after the match.
Watch the full highlights of the match between Mumbai City FC and Atletico de Kolkata here.
