Delhi Dynamos FC brushed aside FC Pune City in their Hero Indian Super League Season 2 match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Thursday evening. 14,299 spectators were witness to a brilliant display by the Lions who cruised to a 3-1 win over the Stallions courtesy of first-half strikes from Adil Nabi and Anas Edathodika and a second half penalty from John Arne Riise after Govin Singh had received his marching orders from the referee. Adrian Mutu scored a late consolation goal for FC Pune City.
It didn’t take long for the game to get going. The Dynamos had the first shot of the game within 30 seconds through Nabi who forced keeper Arindam Bhattacharya into conceding the first corner of the match.
Kalu Uche had the visitors’ first goal attempt of the match after Mutu showed quick feet to get past his marker on the right side of Delhi’s defence and pass it to the Nigerian striker whose shot was off-target. The deadlock was broken in the 36th minute when Nabi turned in a Delhi Dynamos FC corner. It was his first Hero ISL goal of the season and put Delhi in a commanding position after dominating for the majority of the first period.
Mutu unleashed a thunderous shot from close range soon after but Golden Glove holder Antonio Doblas managed to do just enough to keep the Romanian’s effort out of his net. It was 2-0 five minutes later from a Florent Malouda corner. This time it was Anas who jumped the highest to send in a towering header past a helpless Bhattacharya in Pune’s goal to give the hosts a two-goal advantage.
Wesley Verhoek should have reduced the deficit before the half-time interval when Doblas’ attempted clearance fell favourably for the Dutchman. Verhoek though failed to keep his shot on target as the score remained 2-0 at half-time.
Delhi could have made it 3-0 immediately after the restart when Nabi played in Seminlen Doungel through on goal. The 21-year-old beat Bhattacharya in goal but the post came to the Stallions’ rescue much to the relief of everyone in orange and purple.
Riise nearly scored Delhi’s third of the night in the 62nd minute after he was allowed a free header in the box from another corner. The Norwegian, however, failed to test the goalkeeper as he sent his header sailing over the crossbar.
It was all Delhi for most of the second half as well with FC Pune City finding it difficult to get going. Substitute Richard Gadze almost scored with an absolute belter of a strike after controlling the ball brilliantly 10 minutes before full-time.
Govin was sent off for picking up his second yellow card of the match five minutes later. Singh was punished for bringing down Adinga inside the box – giving away a penalty in the process. The Lions finally got their third goal of the match with Riise stepping up to the spot and converting the spot-kick with nonchalance.
Mutu did pull one back with a delightfully taken free-kick but it was no more than a consolation as Delhi went second in the league table with 18 points from 10 matches while Pune moved one place down to fourth on 15 points.
