Mumbai rout Delhi in ill-tempered game to jump to second spot in ISL

Such was the intensity of the game that one player from each side was red-carded in the first half. The goal-getters for the home team, which scored its second successive win, were their Romanian captain Lucian Goian (12th minute), the Brazilian mid-field duo Everton Santos (43rd) and Thiago Santos (49th) and Indian international Balwant Singh (79th minute), his fifth of the season and third in the last two matches.

The three points gained from the match helped Mumbai take their tally to 13 points from eight games and jump three spots from fifth spot and lie in second place, three points behind league leaders Chennaiyin FC.

Delhi remained at the bottom of the league by suffering their sixth successive loss in seven ties. The closing stages of the first half of the match, played at a fast pace with plenty of fouls marring it, deteriorated into a physical fight and resulted in the sending off of Sehnaj Singh of Mumbai and Claudio Matias of Delhi for indulging in a fracas in added-on time.

Sehnaj brought down Matias on the left wing as the Uruguayan midfielder was on a sprint with the ball and then put his hand on the latter s face.

The latter retaliated and referee Rahul Kumar Gupta red- carded both, who later continued to fight in the players tunnel, leaving both the teams with ten men to play with in the second half. Before the fracas, Mumbai dominated the half and deservingly took a handy 2-0 lead too while Delhi muffed a few chances that came their way.

Mumbai were on the attack from the whistle and got a penalty awarded when the speedy Everton Santos, put through by a Raju Gaekwad-Balwant Singh combined move, was brought down by a flying tackle from Delhi custodian Arnab Das Sarma on the left side of the penalty area. The spot-kick by Cameroonian Achille Emana, who had a good game, struck the left post and captain Lucian Goian ran forward and left-footed the ball that went in after hitting Arnab's body.

The 12th minute goal by the home team skipper stung Delhi a bit. Although they could not stitch some decent passes at a stretch, the effort was on and it nearly bore fruit midway through the session but for Romeo Fernandes and S Nandhakumar blasting wide in close succession.