FC Goa's marauding run in the fourth edition of the Indian Super league continued as they destroyed 10-man Delhi Dynamos 5-1 in front of their 11,000-odd home crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, here on Saturday. The victory sends the Gaurs top of the table. They lead second-placed Bengaluru FC via goal difference.
It was the case of late burst by the blue-clad side in either side of the half as they scored twice in space of two minutes in injury time first - through goal machine Ferran Corominas (45+1 minute) and Manuel lanzarote (45+2 minute) respectively - and later three goals in four minutes deep into second half - by Pritam Kotal (own goal on 84th minute), Adrian Colunga (85thminute) and Manuel Arana (88th minute).
At the beginning of the game, things started calmly as home team allowed ball possession to the Gaurs. Knowing the importance of Spanish midfield duo of lanzarote and Eduardo Bedia, coach Miguel Angel Portugal asked Vinit Rai and Paulinho to man-mark them respectively. The plan worked to perfection as the Goan midfield was ineffective from open play despite enjoying abundant amount of possession. However, Goa forward Corominas did manage to eke out threatening chances from the dead-ball situations. First such effort came in the 11th minute when Mandar Rao Desai skims the bar post with his shot. The chance arrived from a defence-splitting cross by the Spanish forward.
The intensity of the game dropped after Mandar's effort as DD maintained their defensive posture, while maintaining a high-defensive line, and kept Goa's arsenal of attack at bay.
Delhi players grew confident with every passing minute and on the half-hour mark posed some serious threat in Goa's half. After a positive buildup in the midfield, Paulinho spotted an overlapping run of right-back Pritam Kotal, whose dangerous cross was guided to safety by Goa's centre-back Pinheiro. Seconds later DD's Guyon Fernandez gave opponent's defence some serious test with his mazy run inside the box, skipping past his marker and putting a low cross in the centre but the Goa defence was well positioned again to deal with the danger.
Goa came to life soon in the 17th minute, when Brandon Fernandez was played through on a counter, the skilful winger managed to dribble past two defenders but his heavy last touch saw an alert Sukhadev Patil collect the ball before Brandon could shoot.
Dynamos' midfield general Paulinho, who played a key role in setting-up attack from the centre of the field, hit the crossbar with a powerful shot in the 31st minute.
The game slowly rolled towards the end of first half as Delhi looked like a confident home side. But script of the game changed quickly as Goa scored twice in a matter of seconds in the injury time.
The first goal came from an indirect free-kick. lanzarote's kick was punched poorly by stand-in shot-stopper Patil and the ball ricocheted off Guyon to Corominas on goal-line, who nudged the ball into the net for the opener.
The second goal came immediately as Corominas turned into a provider for his Spanish compatriot lanzarote, who sighted Patil off his line, and lobbed the ball over the keeper into the net.
The Dynamos came back in the second half as a different side as Kalu Uche had two quick chances inside the box but the Delhi skipper couldn't make them count.
Delhi though soon pulled one back at the hour mark when a quiet Romeo Fernandez made his first and last contribution to the game by assisting the Uche at the 62nd minute. Uche, with an empty net to roll the ball in, made no mistake in scoring his second goal of the tournament.
However, the spirited home side, brimming with confidence after the goal, was given a harsh blow as centre-back Gabriel Cichero was shown a second yellow card.
Delhi didn't lose hope as the side kept going forward for the equaliser. But the number disadvantage soon caught up with them. lobera, sighting the lack of numbers at the back of DD's flank, sent in Manuel Arana. The pacy winger changed the scenario minutes after coming in; his dangerous cross from the right side was converted into an own goal by right-back-turned-centre-back Pritam Kotal on the 84th minute.
The goal ended Delhi's remaining hope as they were never the same side after that. The floodgates were open now as substitute striker Colunga scored the fourth goal courtesy Arana's cross again seconds later.
Arana soon found his team's fifth and his first goal of ISl in 88th minute, completing the humiliation on the Portugal-coached side.
"This was our worst performance at home, although we were down to 10 men and I feel the red card was unfair, we didn't deserve it," noted DD's assistant coach Shakti Chauhan.