New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) Mumbai City FC's season went from bad to worse as they slumped to a 1-4 defeat away to Delhi Dynamos FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here Friday.
The capital side were ruthless as they went 3-0 up with goals from Hans Mulder, Mads Junker and Gustavo dos Santos before substitute Abhishek Yadav grabbed a consolation for his side.
But substitute Manish Bhargav completed the rout with a stoppage time strike to help Delhi move up to fifth on the table and leave Mumbai languishing at the bottom.
Mumbai started the stronger side as they pushed forward for a lead but Delhi stayed strong. It didn't take the home side long to get into the game.
The enigmatic dos Santos had a shot blocked early on for a corner. Delhi were denied four minutes later when Deepak Mandal cleared a Junker shot off the line. Mumbai were in control briefly in the middle period but were unable to make it count.
Delhi finally took the lead in the 44th minute. Junker put in a low cross at the near post, Manuel Friedrich made a poor clearance and Mulder was on hand to smash it into the roof of the net for his second goal in two games.
Peter Reid took off Lalrindika Ralte and marquee man Fredrik Ljungberg at the start of the second half but it was Delhi who doubled their lead in the 48th minute. Brazilian dos Santos split the Mumbai defence with an excellent through ball. Junker read the play, ran on to it and rolled it past a stunned Subrata Paul.
Ten minutes later it was 3-0 as Francis Fernandes put in a superb cross from the right. An unmarked dos Santos got on the end of it and headed superbly past a stationary Paul.
Reid threw in Abhishek Yadav on as a final option. The lanky former international striker repaid his coach's faith with a superb volley to beat Kristof van Hout for a goal on debut.
But Delhi were not done yet as substitute Bhargav smashed the ball into the net after Paul had saved a shot from substitute Steven Dias' cut back.
Reid will be hoping his side can pull up their socks when they take on state rivals FC Pune City away Dec 3. Delhi will want to continue in the same vein against Atletico de Kolkata at home Dec 2 as they eye a top-four spot.