Mahilpur, Feb 8 : Sporting Club Bengaluru kept their hopes alive in the I-League 2024-25 when they edged Delhi FC 1-0 at the Ali Hasan Stadium on Saturday,

In the battle between two bottom teams in the points table, striker Saiyyad Umair made all the difference with his goal in the 49th minute after the Bengaluru side were reduced to 10 men in the 26th minute.

Without their Portuguese skipper and defender Carlos Lomba, who was given the marching orders, Sporting Club took home three points and took their tally to 12 from 13 matches. They are now barely out of the relegation zone and placed 10th in the points table, followed by Aizawl FC (10) and Delhi FC (nine). This was Sporting Club's first away win in the competition.

The Bengaluru side looked determined to make it their day, but the marching orders to Lomba in the 26th minute came as a bitter setback. He was first shown a yellow card and within seconds the referee Williams Joy Koshy flashed the second yellow and the red card after the penalised player had a word with him.

The Sporting Club players and the bench didn't take the decision sportingly. They all argued with the supervising official almost in unison, and the head coach was shown a yellow card.

Credit to the visiting side, they didn't lose hearts and took the lead four minutes into the second half. A long throw-in from the right landed right inside the Delhi FC box and it was met with a poor clearance. As the ball dropped nearby, striker Saiyyad Umair managed to take a low left-footer through a jungle of legs that beat goalkeeper Lalmuansanga.

The goal rattled the hosts and they made every attempt to breach the rival defence. The Bengaluru goal would have fallen on at least three occasions, but their Japanese goalkeeper Yuva Kuriyama displayed remarkable skills to come to the team's rescue.

Like in the previous match against Namdhari FC, the Delhi side were guilty of not making the best use of the opportunities that came their way despite showing urgency in the midfield. While the contest in the first half was even, the second half clearly belonged to the home side. Sporting, being forced to play with 10 men for more than an hour, were obviously more eager to save their own citadel and only raided the rival goal on counter attacks.

/IANS