By: Rajeeb Mukherjee

What was supposed to be a home match for Delhi Dynamos turned out to be more of an away fixture. Up against NorthEast United FC in their fourth round encounter of the Indian Super League, Delhi were outnumbered in the stands, with the majority of support going the other way.

It might have come as strange for the Delhi players, who were at the receiving end of boos and catcalls. Hans Mulder, Delhi’s utility player wondered as much after the match. Agreed the match ended goalless, but still they didn’t deserve it.

After all they were coming on the back of a 4-1 win against Chennaiyin FC at the same Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which on Wednesday seemed more like the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati, the home of NorthEast United.

Each NorthEast United move would be greeted with phenomenal lung power and amid loud clapping, whistling and drumming, ‘Go United’ chants would go round the stadium like Mexican wave.

The hosts looked clearly rattled in the first 10 minutes of each half as the visitors pressed and pressed hard. But the absence of Spanish World Cup winner Joan Capdevila and Koke, who have scored two goals for NorthEast United – both due to injuries – meant they could not sustain that pressure. What they lacked in creativity, they tried to offset with hard work, but against a Delhi side which was solid at the back, all the running proved fruitless.

Delhi were defending resolutely, putting everything on the line as they saw out the threats. It was then Delhi’s turn to get things moving. Within the space of five minutes, Alessandro Del Piero showed his class. First a gentle body feint was followed by a rasping left-footer that went wide.

Then he slid in a pass for Mads Junker who blew it away from inside the box. Sadly, that remained the only time Delhi managed to have sent someone clear, for the rest of the first half Ricki Herbert’s side kept them at arms length, the visitors restricting Delhi in taking potshots from outside the box.

Despite repeated attempts, Delhi couldn’t get much of a look into goal. Efforts to breach the defence would often get nipped in the bud with Kondwani Mtonga putting up a solid display in front of defence. A similar work was being done on the other side by Mulder and Bruno Herrero, both doing the spade work, running tirelessly and mopping up the loose balls in the midfield.

In fact the enterprising Mulder could have had the last laugh, going close twice in the 86th and 90th minutes, both times goalkeeper TP Rehenesh coming to the rescue. The Kerala goalkeeper would come into the picture late in the first half as well, diving to his right to stop a Del Piero freekick. The Italian World Cup winner tried his best. At times he would sell a dummy or attempt a shimmy, but with age catching up – he would be 40 next month – it seemed that his feet was struggling to follow the orders that his mind was dictating.