Skipper Hans Mulder opened the scoring for Delhi. (Source: PTI photo)

The match was barely 12 minutes old when Delhi Dynamos’ midfielder Mads Junker ripped one past Mumbai City FC goalkeeper Subrata Paul. The ball rolled past Paul and looked headed for a certain goal and only a timely intervention from defender Deepak Mandal saved Mumbai the blushes. Eight minutes later Francis Fernandes took a crack at goal that captain Syed Rahim Nabi deflected for a corner.

Mumbai City FC were clearly living on the edge.

Delhi’s gameplan of going on the offensive from the start put Mumbai’s defence under immense pressure.

Mumbai, on their part, were clearly missing their star strike duo of Nicolas Anelka and Andre Moritz. The spark was missing and their marquee player, Freddie Ljungberg, looked tired and was going through the motions. For the next 20 minutes or so, Delhi kept testing Mumbai with their aggressive brand of football but the goal was proving elusive.

It finally came in the 44th minute. Delhi’s Portuguese midfielder Henrique Oliveira Dias sent one soaring goal-bound from the right. A sloppy Manuel Friedrich gifted possession to Francis, who failed to control the ball. It fell kindly for Hans Mulder, who sensed the opportunity and smashed it on the volley to register Delhi’s first goal. The hosts could have doubled the lead before the end of first half but Mads Junker’s effort was blocked by Paul. Delhi went into the break with their heads high and spirits soaring.

Mumbai brought in Javi Fernandez in place of an out-of-form Ljungberg after the breather. Peter Reid was hoping Fernandez would provide the spark in the midfield. The Spaniard did start on a bright note, showing some deft touches as he breached the Delhi defence only to see his effort thwarted by the giant Kristof Van Hout under the Delhi bar. It was 49 minutes on the clock and the first realistic attempt that Mumbai could come up with till then.

The move seemed to stir Delhi again and Junker found the net in the very next minute. Once again it was Mumbai’s fragile defence to blame. Junker collected a pass from Dos Santos and left Freidrich chasing shadows before slotting it home.

Things went downhill for Mumbai from there on. Delhi had another chance in the 55th minute as Dos Santos went for glory, smashing one from a tight corner. This time Paul managed to deflect it out of harm’s way. Dos Santos made up for the lost opportunity five minutes later. He received a brilliant pass from Francis and drilled it past Paul to set up Delhi’s third.

The final nail in Mumbai’s coffin came after substitute Manish Bharghav found the net in the 90th minute after Junker’s effort was partly parried by the Mumbai goalkeeper. In between Abhishek Yadav had pulled one back for Mumbai as they crashed 1-4.