New Delhi: Skipper Hans Mulder scored a breathtaking goal, before Mads Junker, Gustavo Santos and Manish Bhargav added to the tally to propel Delhi Dynamos to a crushing 4-1 win over Mumbai City FC in an Indian Super League match here on Friday.
With back-to-back wins, the Dynamos kept themselves in contention for a last four berth with 13 points from 11 games, which places them at fifth position in the eight-team table.
While Mumbai City FC are only a point behind from same number of matches, their fifth defeat pushed them to the bottom of the table.
Mulder found the target in the 44th minute while striker Junker struck in the 50th minute to seal the issue in Dynamos’ favour at the floodlit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Brazilian Dos Santos only added to the visiting side’s misery by finding the net with a header in 60th minute, leaving the jubilant home fans in a state of frenzy.
Manish, who came in as a substitute, made it worse for the visitors as he scored in the 90th minute.
For the visitors, former India international Abhishek Yadav, who came in as a substitute, pulled one back for the in the 86th minute.
Mulder, who had also scored in the side’s last game, struck for the hosts with a rasping right-footed volley after receiving the ball from Francis Fernandes just a minute before the breather.
After the change of ends, the script remained the same as Junker, playing as a lone striker in coach Harm Van Veldhoven’s 4-2-3-1 formation, capitalised on Dos Santos’ brilliant through ball inside the box by placing it past Mumbai custodian Subrata Paul.
Dos Santos then go into the thick of things as he headed one in to the right side of the post after meeting a fernandes cross inside the 18-yard box.
Following the triple-strike from the Dynamos, the match was as good as over, with the Mumbai defence wilting at the face of the relentless pressure put on by the hosts.
The two changes that Mumbai coach Peter Reid made at the half time – bringing in Nadong Bhutia and Javier Fernandes – did not have the desired effect even as Delhi went on a rampage.
Even the inclusion of Abhishek Yadav did not work for Reid, whose team is now lying at the bottom. On the other hand, the Dynamos, who were occupying the last position prior to this match, jumped to the 5th place in the team standings.
While the scorers did their job to perfection, Francis deserves special mention for his relentless and smart job on the right wing.
He was not just instrumental in the two out of the three strikes, the Indian troubled the Mumbai outfit throughout the match.
Mumbai City FC rarely threatened upfront and Jan Stohanzl’s header missing the target by a whisker could just about qualify as a chance.
While they scored twice after the break and could have had a few more, the Dynamos missed chances galore in the first half too, before captain Mulder broke the deadlock.
Inside the first 15 minutes only, Delhi came close to scoring twice. Junker, who reached the through ball from Dos Santos and beat Paul before the ball towards the post, but Deepak Mondal came to visitors’ rescue as he cleared the ball just as it was about to enter in the open post.
That was in the 12 minute and three minutes before that too, the hosts had a chance to go ahead.
Francis then put in another of his many good crosses of the day, but Mumbai skipper Syed Rahim Nabi cleared the ball in time.
While they have had many close shaves, the visitors allowed their counterparts to sneak inside the danger zone regularly. (PTI)
