Diego Carlos scored in the 88th minute to deny Delhi Dynamos victory in their opening Indian Super League (ISL) match against FC Pune City on Wednesday. Defender Rana Gharami had put hosts, Delhi, ahead just before the end of first half.
Josep Gombau lined up the Dynamos in a 4-3-2-1 formation in his first ISL match in charge with Spanish custodian Francisco Dorronsoro being handed his debut in the league.
Gharami was handed a start in central defence alongside Gianni Zuiverloon with Narayan Das and Pritam Kotal deployed in the full-back roles.
Up front, Serbian striker Andrija Kaluderovic led the line with Rene Mihelic playing behind him. Lallianzuala Chhangte and Nandhakumar Sekar started on either flanks while Bikramjit Singh was preferred ahead of Vinit Rai to partner Marcos Tebar in midfield.
It was the visitors, who looked the more confident side at the start with young Ashique Kuruniyan causing havoc in the early stages of the game, but Dynamos found their way back as Lallianzuala Chhangte threatened the opposition defence and forced a save of Vishal Kaith midway into the first half.
The hosts were forced to an early change in the 35th mninute as midfielder Bikramjit Singh was stretchered off and was replaced by Vinit Rai.
Dynamos’ persistence paid off just a minute before the first half as, out of nowhere, defender Gharami scored an absolute belter from 40 yards out to hand the hosts a 1-0 lead going into the first half.
Both sides started the second half with caution as much of the game was played in the middle of the park. The best chance though came midway into the second half as Pritam’s run from the right fell straight into the path of Kaluderovic but the Serbian failed to hit the target from close range.
The Serbian had yet another chance five minutes later this time from Romeo’s low cross but his pass was well intercepted by the Pune defence.
Things however did not go as planned as Carlos equalised for the away team with a cheeky left footer.
Delhi had a couple of more chances towards the final few minutes of the match, but the match ended with a hard fought 1-1 draw.