Bengaluru: Bengaluru FC registered their second consecutive win in as many matches in the fourth edition of the Indian Super League. The home side put up a complete attacking brand of football on display with an emphatic 4-1 win against the Delhi Dynamos at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday. Erik Partaalu struck twice, while Lenny Rodriguez and Miku scored a goal each. Kalu Uche scored a late consolation goal for the away side.
Playing at home ‘The Blues’ started from where they had left off against Mumbai City FC, letting Delhi enjoy possession in their own half but attacking everytime they got the ball. Such was the confidence of the home boys that they could have well scored a goal in the very first minute itself, but Miku’s header hit the upright. Led by a consistent Sunil Chhetri, the Albert Roca boys constantly found holes in the Dynamos defence but luck abandoned them, with the final shot sometimes going over and wide of the post or being intercepted. But it was that until the 23rd minute. What looked like a well practised set-piece work, Garcia send in a free-kick towards Harmanjot Khabra, which the full-back instead of heading towards goal, send it towards Paartalu at the centre of the D, and the Australian made no mistake to head the ball in, giving his side a 1-0 lead.
‘The Blues’ kept on piling up attacks with Garcia drawing a close save from Albino four minutes before the end of the opening-half. Cichero and Vineet Rai stepped up quite a number of times, but Paartalu scored for a second time at the brink of half-time from another set-piece, this time from a Edu Garcia corner. The Spaniard send in a perfect cross, for the defensive midfielder to head in his second goal of the night.
It was a similar battle after the break, with Dynamos holding on to possession of the ball, but the home team attacking at evey go. They soon bagged their third in the 57th minute when Captain Chhetri send in a beautiful through ball to Udanta Singh, whose shot was parried away by Albino but Lenny Rodriguez scored on the rebound.
The diminutive striker himself nearly got on the scoresheet, but Delhi custodian who had been busy all evening drawing saves, pulled out another great one as Bengaluru constantly threatened the goal. Three goals down, coach Portugal soon brought Seityasen Singh and Eduardo Moya in a bid to fight back, but Roca replied with a five man defence, blocking everything Delhi threw at them, with the away side enduring a frustrating night often lacking the final quality ball, despite taking several in – roads into the Bengaluru half.
The score should have been 4-0 in the 77th minute, but Miku one-on-one with the goalkeeper, failed to pick out the right place as Albino drew another tough save. The former Venezuelan national football did score one, 10 minutes later when another defence-splitting ball from chhetri found him. Taking a clever turn he beat two defenders before firing a bullet out of Gomes’ reach, to open his account in India. Delhi meanwhile scored a consolation goal in the 86th minute after John Johnson handled the ball in the penalty box. Captain Ulche scored one from the spot. The Nigerian himself could have scored three goals late into the match, but was wasteful infront of goal, often failing a collect a right pass or taking longer time to shoot.
The match ended with the scores 4-1 as Bengaluru moved to the table top, having scored six goals in just two matches. Delhi meanwhile return home after a shambolic defeat and will aim to regroup early before the next match. The home side completely dominated the match, despite not keeping much of the ball, with 13 out of 17 shots on target, while the Dynamos had only three out of 13.