Indian Super League (ISL) 2015 is well and truly on its course and FC Pune City locked horns with arch rivals Mumbai City FC in game no. 3 of the tournament at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi Stadium in Pune on Monday.
The Maharashtra derby was quite an enthralling encounter and FC Pune City defeated Mumbai City FC 3-1.
Turkish international striker Tuncay Sanli found the back of the net twice in the derby game on Monday at the Balewadi Stadium.
On papers, FC Pune City looked a much stronger side and showed their class on the field as well. FC Pune City broke the deadlock within the first quarter of the game but Mumbai City FC forward Frederic Piquionne drew level 10 minutes before the half-time whistle.
Mumbai City FC got a number of chances to put their nose ahead in the game but they missed all of them. A couple of shots from Sony Norde hit the post as well.
FC Pune City ran away with the game in the second half when Tuncay headed another one into the nets of the Mumbai City FC in th 55th minute. Much later, Israil Gurung, who also came up with two assists in Monday's clash, scored one more to put the final nail in the coffin just ahead of the final whistle making the scoreline 3-1.
"We suffered in the first half. We played well in the second half. We were forced to make a change in the second half since we didn't have a player to change the game. The change was fortunate for us that it worked out. I would have liked to control the game in all aspects from start to end. We will think what we need to do. The boys need to rest. We have 72 hours to our next game. Tomorrow we train again but we train with happy faces, having got the three points.
"We didn't control the game in the first half. We would like to control our games and get the result. We would like to play attractive football but the win is more important," a happy FC Pune City manager David Platt told the media after the game.