NorthEast United stayed alive in the Indian Super League race after overpowering Delhi Dynamos and beating them 2-1 at Guwahati on Wednesday.
Dyanmos are already assured of a place in the semi-final and held on to the second spot despite the loss. United, meanwhile, move one point adrift of Kerala Blasters, against whom they will face off for their last round-robin game in Kochi. Nothing less than a win would assure the Highlanders of a place in the last four.
Despite the Dynamos seeing more of the ball, it was the home side who looked better at the goalmouth in the first half. United showed more killer instinct on the other side of the break and took the lead in the game through Seityasen Singh’s goal from a delicate angle.
The second goal came from Romaric 10 minutes later after he latched on to a defence-splitting pass from Robert Cullen and smashed the ball past Delhi keeper Toni Doblas and into the net. Barring Marcelinho and Florent Malouda, almost all the Dynamos players put up a lacklustre display.
The opener came from a thumping long ball from Didier Zokora from the defence and none of the Dynamos players picked up Seityasen Singh, who got to the by-line before slotting the ball between the keeper and the post from a tight angle.
The Dyanmos’ defence were caught ball-watching for the second goal as well as Romaric hammered home a two-goal lead. It was one-way traffic till the very end before Marcelinho took a well-taken goal, rolling the ball from left to right to leave Zokora on the floor, and smashed the ball into the net to restore some parity.
Brief scores:
NorthEast United 2 (Seityasen Singh, Romaric) beat Delhi Dynamos 1 (Marcelinho)
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