A 10-man Atletico de Kolkata pounced on a late penalty to down a strong Delhi Dynamos by a solitary goal in a Hero-ISL outing here at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium on Saturday.
Iain Hume scored from the spot late in the 77th minute to ensure full points for the host which moments before had been reduced to 10 men and survived a penalty that was hit wide by Dynamos forward Marcelo Pereira.
The win took ATK to the second spot in the standings with nine points from five matches while DD dropped to fifth with six points from five.
The absence of a genuine striker like Helder Postiga, who sat out third consecutive match with injury, seemed to hurt the host, which could not do much with the tall Spaniard Belencoso up front.
Sameehg Doutie, who once again was electrifying on the flanks, did combine well with Hume, who was operating as a withdrawn striker, but the finishing remained an area of concern.
Doutie and Hume both had chances within the first five minutes after the interval but neither could beat the Dynamos goalkeeper Antonio Doblas.
Hereafter came the three minutes that changed the complexion of the match. Delhi gained on a defensive slip committed by the host’s Portuguese defender Henrique Sereno, who pulled down Delhi striker Richard Gadze inside his own box in the 73rd minute.
Apart from the resultant penalty, ATK also went down to 10 men as Sereno collected his second booking and was sent off. But the host had a lucky escape as Delhi’s most trusted attacker Marcelo shot over from the spot.
Fortune sided with the host three minutes later (76th minute) when Doutie, who got in with a fine solo run was felled by the Delhi defender Lalchhawnkima inside the latter’s box.
Hume did not make any mistake from the spot to ensure the first home win for the ATK.
The first session was rather insipid, Dynamos livening up the proceedings, launching a few good attacks after the first 25 minutes. Florent Malouda fired up the action with his fine play-making skills.
Malouda released the swift Marcelo with a nice diagonal pass in the 23rd minute. The visitors would have been up a goal had not ATK defender Prabir Das made a goal-line save following Marcelo’s angular attempt.
Dynamos had a series of attempts, beginning with Malouda, around the 35th minute. ATK custodian Debjit Majumder made three spectacular saves that started with the attempt of Malouda.
As the ball pinged around in the ATK box, Marcos Tebar and Rupert Nongrum shot in quick succession, but found Majumdar blocking the goal.
Majumdar’s brilliance emboldened the host which launched two late attacks. The first one, in the 39th minute, saw Balencoso’s angled header missing the mark before Hume missed one from close.
