Mumbai City FC started the season on a strong note sailing past the local favourite Mohammedan Sporting 3-1 in its opening Group B league match of the 132nd Durand Cup, at the Kishore Bharati Stadium here on Saturday.

The Indian Super League (ISL) Shield winner Mumbai City FC proved too big a proposition for the I-League side Mohammedan Sporting establishing a three-goal lead by the 35th minute of the match.

Rostyn Griffiths, Jorge Peryra Diaz and Lallianzuala Chhangte scored for the Mumbai side, which could have won by a bigger margin but for some sloppy misses by its attackers in the later part of the action.

Mohammedan Sporting denied its opponent the chance of winning it with a clean slate thanks to a David Lalhlansanga strike a few minutes before the break. The second half did not see any more goals as the home side failed to add more to the scoreline while the visitor appeared content with wrapping up its first match with the two-goal lead.

The Islanders got the lead early in the 12th minute when Australian defender Griffiths rose high up to nod Greg Stewart’s corner home. The ball hit the underside of the bar before going in.

Mumbai City doubled the lead 11 minutes later when its Argentine forward Jorge Peryra Diaz tapped in a rebound after Spaniard Alberto Ripoll’s first attempt came off the Mohammedan Sporting goalkeeper Lalbiakhlua Jongte.

Ripoll next put Bipin Singh through on the left flank with a diagonal pass before the latter issued a cross for Chhangte to score into an open goal (3-0). The Mohammedan Sporting fans had a brief moment of enjoyment when David Lalhlansanga produced a nice header to put Samad Mallick’s long cross into the Mumbai City net.

The results:

Group B: Mumbai City FC 3 (Rostyn Griffiths 12, Pereyra Diaz 23, Lallianzuala Chhangte 35) bt Mohammedan Sporting 1 (David Lalhlansanga 40’).