Indian football round-up: Goa outplay Delhi to move into ISL top spot

FC Goa condemned Delhi Dynamos to their fourth successive defeat with a 5-1 thrashing in their Indian Super League encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday.

In the end, it turned out to be an easy victory to Sergio Lobera's side, who are now at the top of the ISL table.

Ferran Corominas (45+1), Manuel Lanzarote (45+3), Adrian Colunga (85th) and Manuel Arana (88th) registered their name on the scoresheet for FC Goa.

For Delhi Kalu Uche scored the consolation goal for the home side.

After both sides rattled the bar early on in the first half, FC Goa opened the scoring in a bit fortuitous fashion.

In the 45th minute, Delhi goalkeeper Sukhadev Patil, who had come into the match to replace the injured Albinos Gomes, failed to deal with Manuel Lanzarote's free-kick. The ball ping-ponged in the 18-yard area before the in-form Ferran Corominas tapped it in to hand Goa the lead.

Almost immediately after the restart, Delhi conceded again. Having contributed to the first goal, Lanzarote smashed in a 30-yard curler to double the advantage for Lobera's side just before the referee blew the whistle for half-time.

In the second half, Delhi Dynamos started off brightly and, at the hour-mark, Delhi pulled one back.

Jeroen Lumu's through-ball for Romeo Fernandes cut open FC Goa's defence for once and the midfielder sent the ball across the goal for Kalu Uche to claim a simple tap-in.

Uche's strike looked to ignite a comeback for Delhi but all their hopes were doused in the 66th minute when Gabriel Cichero was given marching orders by the referee after the Venezuelan picked up a second yellow.

Even after Cichero's dismissal, Delhi worked hard but an own-goal by Pritam Kotal in the 84th minute opened the floodgates for FC Goa who hit two more goals to stun the home fans.

Just a minute after Kotal's lunging effort to stop a low cross ended up in his own net, it was substitute Adrian Colunga's turn to get his name on the scoresheet. Manuel Arana's cross at the back post was volleyed in by Colunga in the 85th minute.

In the 88th minute, Arana, who had provided an assist earlier, latched on to a loose ball in the box to slam home Goa's fifth of the night.

I-League: Plaza turns hero as EB pip Churchill 3-2

Willis Plaza became the hero of East Bengal overnight as he scored in the final minute to pip Churchill Brothers 3-2 in a thrilling I-League football fixture in Barasat on Saturday.

The match saw many ups and downs and the 2012-13 I-League champions Churchill were on course to log their first points with goals from Nigerian Peter Omoduemuke (16th) and Nicholas Fernandes (60th).

East Bengal scored their first goal through Laldanmawia Ralte in the 18th minute and under-fire Trinidadian forward Plaza then gave a fitting reply to his critics with two goals (45+2 and 90+7) to hand the Goans their fourth defeat on the trot.

It was East Bengal's second win of the season after their 5-1 rout of Shillong Lajong as the red-and-gold brigade jumped to the third place in the standings with seven points.