Kerala Blasters secured three points away at the JLN Stadium in New Delhi as an Iain Hume hat-trick headlined a convincing 3-1 victory over the Delhi Dynamos.
It was also their first away victory of the season as they climbed to sixth position in the table with 11 points. Pritam Kotal’s consolation wasn’t enough to prevent Delhi slipping to a seventh defeat as they remained bottom with four points.
The Blasters opened the scoring in the 12 minute as Iain Hume tapped the ball in from close range. Courage Pekuson beat Pritam Kotal on the right before evading Gabriel Cichero’s challenge before squaring the ball to the Canadian.
Despite all the early pressing from Delhi, it was the Blasters who were in the ascendancy as the Dynamos defence kept getting stretched at regular intervals. However, the home side dragged themselves back in it after Kotal equalised with a minute of regulation time remaining in the first half.
Romeo Fernandes swung in a free-kick in from the left as Kotal got a touch to the ball which snuck into the Blasters net. At half-time, the away team would have rued the conceded goal considering they dominated the half.
It was the same combination which fashioned an opening for Delhi after Kotal played Fernandes in but the latter opted to shoot the ball wide. David Nghaite then wasted a glorious chance for the Dynamos as a cross from Lallinzuala Chhangte saw the forward in position to score but put it wide.
Hume then made the home side pay as he cut in from the left, as the ball slid low across the face of goal and into the corner of the net. The Canadian then got his 26th ISL goal and third on the night as the forward ran past Rowilson Rodrigues to put the icing on the cake. The score remained 3-1 as the Blasters broke a streak of seven away games without a win.