Agencies
New Delhi, November 13
FC Goa completed their double over Delhi Dynamos by registering a 4-1 victory at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi in the inaugural edition of the Indian Super League (ISL). A brace by Youness Bengelloun, a Robert Pires spot-kick and a top strike by Tolgay Ozbey were enough to seal their first three points on the road. Gustavo Marmentini did pull one back for the home side after a penalty was awarded in the 73rd minute.
Assistant coach Mark Luijpers made four changes to the starting line-up with Alessandro Del Piero, Mads Junker, Shylo Malswamtulunga and Adil Khan being dropped in favour of Martin Skuobo, Gustavo Marmentini, Steven Dias and Naoba Singh. For FC Goa, Andre Santos and Peter Carvalho were included in the first eleven Bruno Pinheiro and Romeo Fernandes being benched.
The home side kicked off the game in a more attacking fashion as they showed urgency to win, something that had been lacking in the past few games. But despite looking the more threatening of the two sides, it was Goa who had the first real opening with Narayan Das charging down the flank, beating Naoba Singh but his final pass to Andre Santos was dealt well by Hans Mulder.
For all their possession, Delhi failed to test Jan Seda in goal, with most of their crosses being dealt with easily.
Goa knocked on the doors again with Mandar Desai’s cross finding Andre Santos but his resulting header hardly tested Van Hout. A few minutes later the Belgium goalkeeper saved Delhi again, dropping low to send Ozbey’s shot for a corner.
Goa were finally rewarded for their efforts from the resulting corner with a well worked move. Pires found Bikramjit Singh on the right flank, whose cross found Peter Costa unmarked inside the box. His header came off Van Hout but landed straight into Youness Bengelloun’s path who finished from close range to give Zico’s side the lead.
Delhi’s best chance came midway in the first half with Bruno Arias combining well with Robert Lalthlamuana, but the latter missed the target by not much. In the 37th minute, Gabriel Fernandes made his way in with Peter Carvalho being stretchered off with an injury.
In the 37th minute, Gabriel Fernandes made his way in with Peter Carvalho being stretchered off with an injury. Three minutes after the break, Goa had a set piece and they once again made the most of it. Santos curled one in and Van Hout’s poor decision to punch it clear backfired as Bengelloun found a free header to score his second of the game.
Things got worse for Delhi as Robert came off injured in the 50th minute to be replaced by Francis Fernandes.
Goa continued to push and Ozbey’s darting run past the Delhi defense was too much to handle as Van Hout brought the Australian striker down for a penalty. Pires stepped up and converted with ease, to put the game beyond the home side’s reach. This was the former Arsenal winger’s first goal of the tournament.
Gabriel Fernandes found Ozbey in space and the Australian ran inside the box, none of the defenders challenged him as he calmly slammed the ball home with van Hout being off his line once again.
Goa had a chance to pile further misery on the home side when Fernandes was clean through on goal but Van Hout made a fine save to deny the substitute.
In the 73rd minute, Gustavo scored from the spot after Francis Fernandes’ cross from the left was handled inside the box by Debabrata Roy. Lujiper’s side continued to press to try and make their way back into the game. Dos Santos came close with his run from the right wing but the shot was blocked by Debabrata. Mulder, a few seconds later saw his header from Steven’s cross miss Seda’s goal by some margin.
In the final few minutes, Goa had a chance to add their fifth of the game but Bruno’s shot was deflected out by Raymakers for a corner.
Harm Van Veldhoven’s distraught look from the stands summed up Delhi’s performance. The defeat sees the home side move into the bottom of the standings with FC Goa going to the seventh slot with eight points.
