The Highlanders suffered their second loss of the season after 2 second half goals from corners resulted in the Mariners taking control
of the game and seeing out the remainder of the game to come out winners at the end of the contest.
The Highlanders went into the game without the services of Kwesi Appiah, who was sidelined following a training injury. With Sylla upfront,
Coach Gerard started Federico Gallego, Khassa Camara in midfield which meant Luis Machado missed out on a place in the starting line-up.
Idrissa Sylla started as the lone striker with VP Suhair and Rochharzela on the flanks for company. Provat Lakra was handed a start ahead of
Gurvinder Kumar. The game started off in a lively fashion with both sides venturing into the other’s boxes but failing to create any significant
chance to bother the scorers. At the break, the Highlanders had more attempts on goal, but none on target.
The Mariners came out with more purpose in the 2nd half, keeping more of the ball and initiating attacks from both flanks.
Roy Krishna's poacher's goal at the near post from a corner gave them the lead and a few minutes later, a Benjamin Lambot own goal after
being put under pressure by Sandesh Jhingan gave the Mariners the advantage. Luis Machado was brought on for the final 20 minutes of the
game but there was a lot of catching up to do at this point.
The Highlanders will next face Hyderabad FC on the 8th of January and will look to arrest a string of worrying results that has seen
them drop to the lower half of the table.