Match report: FC Pune City vs Delhi Dynamos FC

Dos Santos the goal scorer

Prior to Game no 51 beginning at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune, the atmosphere was electric. It probably stemmed from the fact that this could be Pune's last game on the home ground or probably because the good run of the team had prompted the fans to get right behind them when they needed the support the most.

Whatever be the case the match between FC Pune City and Delhi Dynamos FC was played out to an almost sell out crowd, which was rallying behind the home team to win the game. If only that was to be. For all the noise that Pune's supporters made, the fact that they were playing three games in a week's span had tired out even their best men. And Delhi left it until very late to seal the game against the home team.

The midfield battle:

True to its word, the qualifier before the qualifier, began on an engaging note right from the opening minute. Pennant was seen nursing an injured right shoulder in as early as the second minute of the game after a tackle by Hans Mulder. But post that there were attacks from both sides.

Pune came ahead in waves, while Delhi countered. And if the roles reversed Pune countered and Delhi attacked. The first half largely comprised of shots on goals and missed chances.

Picture this – Pennant had a shot on target which hit the crossbar and Dudu who was alone in front of Hout managed to hit the ball straight into his hands. On the other hand, Mads Junker played in Dos Santos, whose long volley was saved by the outstretched palm of a diving Arindam.

While Pune tried hard to break the deadlock, the finishing prowess was just not there. It has been Pune's Achilles heel for a very long time now, and ironically that is what came to bite them late in the game.

To say that Pune played a bad game would be belittling the hard work put in by the defence and the goalkeeper. What was definitely an issue though was the fact that they were unable to kill off the game.

For some reason, the clinical precision which was on display in the previous game against Mumbai was lacking. And one cannot find fault with the team, that was selected today. Given that the same team had played two back to back games it was, but obvious that they were not fresh enough and that showed as the game progressed on.

Delhi's domination; Pune's counter:

We had spoken prior to the game how big a difference would it make to not have Pune's coach Franco Colomba on the sidelines with his team during such an important game. Probably it wasn't evident, but as the game progressed perhaps if the substitutions would have come in on time for Pune the result would have been different.

Kostas looked tired, and so did Dudu. Pennant kept darting in only to be thwarted by Delhi's defence. On the other hand Delhi bought in the killer edge at the key moments in the game.

Primary amongst those was the introduction of Del Piero in the second half. His entry sparked the Delhi Dynamos into action and there were plenty of shots on goal after that. Arindam, for instance had a sliding save made to deny Delhi a goal. On the other hand Vadocz, Dudu and Kostas were all guilty of missing half chances which could have been the final nail in the coffin for Delhi.

Delhi punish Pune:

It was looking evident as the game came to a close that one of the teams would sneak in, given the number of close chances that fell for both the teams. The advantage fell Delhi's way this time around. In the 88th minute of the game, Dos Santos received the ball outside the box and made a darting run in. And for once Ravanan gave way and allowed the Brazilian to run in behind him.

And what looked to be an impossible, tight angle for a goal, saw Dos Santos stun the home team, the supporters and also the commentators by netting the ball past Arindam who came out to stop Dos Santos but just saw the ball haplessly pass by him.

So pressing was the effect of the goal that the 8,400 plus crowd went into a hushed silence. It took a good number of seconds for the fireworks to explode while Dos Santos ran in front of the North Stand, and celebrated his goal in front of the home team supporters along with Del Piero, and his teammates.

Pune had an outside chance in the last minute of the game, when a cross from Kostas came flying in for Dudu, who headed the ball just wide off the goal. The magnitude of the loss was so much that when referee Ranjit Bakshi blew the final whistle Dudu, Cirillo and Vadocz collapsed to the ground.

Colomba who was sitting in the box along with the team owners shook his head in desperation ruing the lost three points and what it meant for his Pune team.

The win takes Delhi to the fourth position with 17 points. Pune meanwhile slipped to the sixth position ( a sort of role reversal) with 16 points. While Kerala too sit on 16 points a better goal difference separates the two teams.

For its final match, Pune will need to beat Kerala and hope that a couple of results go their way if they harbour hopes of making the semis.