Delhi Dynamos revived their hopes of a place in the top-four by beating NorthEast United 2-1 in a vital clash of the Indian Super League (ISL) here Monday.
Gustavo dos Santos and Hans Mulder scored two early goals for the visitors while Kondwani Mtonga pulled one back late for the home side at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium.
The win takes Delhi to 10 points and seventh in the table and puts NorthEast United, also on 10, to the bottom, based on goal difference.
Delhi were on the front foot in the sixth minute when Francis Fernandes played the ball to dos Santos, who passed two players before dispatching a left-footed strike onto the bottom of the crossbar and into the net.
The Dynamos kept the momentum with dos Santos looking dangerous every time he got the ball. But just five minutes later a poor back pass by defender Henrique Dinis to his goalkeeper left Koke in a one-on-one position with Kristoff van Hout.
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The Spaniard rounded the Delhi gloveman but could not squeeze the ball in and it went out after striking the near post.
In the 14th minute, Delhi doubled their lead. A loose ball fell to dos Santos who lifted it to Mulder. The visiting captain controlled beautifully before turning his marker for dead and shooting past Rehenesh T.P. into the far corner.
Delhi were certainly the more attacking side for the remainder of the first half but were reduced to 10-men in the dying minutes. Souvik Chakraborty was shown a second yellow for a foul and Delhi were forced to play the second half with a man down.
The home team took full advantage of their numerical superiority and began attacking. They finally got their breakthrough in the 80th minute from a corner whipped in by Koke which was headed in by Mtonga for his second goal of ISL.
With 10 minutes to go, it was really end-to-end football with both teams getting into great goal scoring positions.
Koke fluffed a couple of chances whereas Delhi could have buried the game with a late goal themselves. The home team's Aiborlang Khongjee too was shown a second yellow late in the game to even out things.
Dynamos host Mumbai City FC Nov 28 while NorthEast United have a tough outing against league leaders Chennaiyin FC at home.
