ISL : Delhi hold NEUFC to spice up play-Off race

Continuing their good form of late, Delhi Dynamos held home side NorthEast United FC to a 1-1 draw in an ISL 2018-19 encounter at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Sarusajai in Guwahati on Thursday evening. The visitors began on a confident note pressing NorthEast up the pitch in the opening few minutes and raking up possession. However the Highlanders got back into their groove as the game progressed.

It was a well contested battle as the midfields from both the sides tried to prove their dominance and stamp authority on the match. NEUFC replaced creative midfielder Redeem Tlang early in the first half in what was a tactical switch to bring in Gurwinder Singh in the heart of defense allowing Jose Leudo to revert to his defensive midfield role.

In the 67th minute, poor clearance and lazy man-marking allowed Delhi to go one-up in the match as Marcos Tebar tapped in one easily. Only minutes later, a Narayan Das-challenge on Bartholomew Ogbeche inside the box earned NorthEast a penalty which the Nigerian striker converted with much ease.

The match didn't have any more goals to offer despite NorthEast going very close on many occasions just to be denied by the crossbar. NorthEast United remain 4-points clear on the 4th spot with 24 points from 15 games and three more games to go. Their next assignment is against Mumbai City FC on February 13 , Wednesday to be played in Mumbai.