ISL 2015: Late goal gives Delhi Dynamos 2-1 win away at NorthEast United

Gustavo dos Santos scored the winner for Delhi Dynamos against NorthEast United (Image courtesy of ISL)

NorthEast United lost yet another match in the Indian Super League as the Delhi Dynamos claimed all three points at the Indira Gandhi Stadium, Guwahati, on Saturday night. Goals from Robin Singh and Gustavo dos Santos saw the capital club move up to second place in the table.

First Half

With the intent of cementing their place in the knockout stages of the league, both NorthEast United and Delhi Dynamos took the ground with three changes each. Farias surprisingly left Andre Bikey out while John Riise was dropped even from the bench for Delhi due to injury. Thus both teams had two big names missing from their defence. Kamara made his comeback after his suspension while Richard Gadze, Hans Mulder and and Sehnaj started for the visitors.

Right in the second minute of the match, NorthEast were awarded a free-kick from from the right, near the edge of the box, as Souvik Chakraborty fouled Kamara and also ended up injuring himself. In fact, the defender had to be stretched out of the ground and looked in incessant pain. NorthEast however wasted the kick as the ball curled in by Simao was headed way. Hanghal did get hold of the ball, but he over shot it by miles.

It was a well balanced match till the middle of the first half as Delhi dominated the attack while NorthEast maintained its shape well. Things however changed in the 30th minute when Robin Singh gave the visitors the lead off a Richard Gadze assist. It was an unfortunate defensive error that cost NorthEast the goal. Delhi were awarded a free-kick outside the box which was weakly punched by Rehenesh TP. Gadze drifted it back to Robin, who was left unmarked, and he calmly slotted the ball with his right foot.

Delhi Dynamos’ Robin Singh celebrates his goal against NorthEast United (Image courtesy of ISL)

However, the goal did not disappoint the home team much as they started pressing really hard. They created three golden opportunities in the span of 10 minutes to pressurize the Delhi defence. First up was Simao who could not power his shot enough to go past the Delhi goalkeeper in the 31st minute.

In the 34th minute Victor Mendy got another beautiful opportunity, but he could not head the ball inside the post. Meanwhile, Delhi, too had their fair share of attack as Robin Singh came dangerously close to doubling the lead in the 36th minute.

The persistent NorthEast attack finally ended with the home team equalizing in the 37thminute. It was a beautiful goal by Seityasen Singh who dribbled past three defenders to net the ball in the far left of the post. It was a superb counter-attack by NorthEast after Robin Singh’s dangerous attempt. Local boy Seityasen did not disappoint the crowd at all as he displayed raw Manipuri pace to score a brilliant goal.

There were two more opportunities for NorthEast after that, but Kamara and Simao again failed to convert them and both teams headed back to the dressing room in the halftime with a scoreline of 1-1.

Seityasen Singh celebrates his equalizer against Delhi (Image courtesy of ISL)

Second Half

The second half started with both managers not opting for any changes. It must be here noted that of the 15 goals that NorthEast have scored this season, six of them have been scored by substitutes.

In the 52nd minute, NorthEast were awarded another free-kick as Gadze fouled Hengbert. Simao took a beautiful free-kick, but no one failed to convert it. Delhi played a really rough game today as by the 55th minute they already saw four yellow cards. The intensity of the match seemed to have taken toll on the players as one could see Robin Singh pushing Simao in frustration.

In the 58th minute, Seityasen Singh had another golden opportunity when a through ball for the Indian got him through on a solo run with just the goalkeeper to beat. But Sehnaj caught him right in time with a tackle near the edge of the box to deny him.

NorthEast made a key substitution in the 63rd minute when Nicholas Velez took the ground replacing Kamara. But the impact was otherwise as Dos Santos who came on earlier attempted a powerful shot that was on target but brilliantly saved by Rehenesh.

In the meantime, Simao was substituted by Bruno Arias and he combined really well with Velez and Mendy to create some beautiful moves. In the 79th minute a move by the three forwards saw NorthEast a corner. Subsequently Arias curled the ball in but there was utter commotion inside the box and NorthEast gave away another golden opportunity.

Carlos substituted Gadze to bring in Adil Nabi, giving him six minutes to impress. With NorthEast repeatedly attacking and failing, it looked like that the match was heading for a draw. But it was just then when Dos Santos silenced the entire stadium with a long range shot which ended up going to the left of the post. Delhi had the lead and also a golden opportunity to play in the semi-finals.

As for NorthEast, it was really disappointing as they consistently played well through the second half. With this loss, their chance of qualifying for the next round now all boils down to their final match against FC Pune City on 2 December.