Iain Hume struck from a spotkick after some Debjit Majumder heroics under the bar as a 10-man Atletico de Kolkata secured a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Delhi Dynamos in the Hero Indian Super league football fixture here on Saturday.
Going through a lean patch, ISl's joint top-scorer Hume broke the the deadlock in the 78th minute to hand ATK their first win against Delhi Dynamos from five exchanges as they jumped to second place with nine points, one less than leaders NorthEast United FC.
The all-important move came after Sameehg Doutie was brought down by lalchhawnkima inside the box in an intense second-half, a minute after Delhi's Marcelo leite Pereira blazed his penalty over the bar in the 75th minute.
In a battle between the two unbeaten teams of ISl, there was drama in store and ATK were reduced to 10 players after Henrique Sereno was sent off following a second warning in the 72nd minute but eventually it was the Kolkata franchise that drew the first blood.
From missing penalty to facing some tough defence from ATK, it was clearly not Delhi's day in a match they should have led by at least three goals at half time.
ATK goalkeeper Majumder and defedner Prabir Das made all the difference to help them retain a clean slate at the break.