The 1-1 verdict couldn’t have hurt New Delhi Heroes more, as it all but ended their title defence. For Hindustan FC, the result was a reason to make their diamond jubilee celebrations even more special, as they made it to the DSA super division league final after seven years. Undermining all post-match celebrations in the dressing room, though, will be the eight bookings — Mahinder Kumar, Sovan Das, Okorogo, Sheikh Manjoor, Manitombi Singh, Monu Choudhury, Anil Bara and Sundar — and the second yellow to midfielder Abhishek Aich.

FIFA panel referee Pratap Singh wasn’t too generous to their opponents either, flashing the yellow to Manoj Joshi and Pawan Kumar. The referee finally lost control over the match in the first half, when a couple of fans and Hindustan FC benchmen intruded the action area, resulting in the game being halted for a few minutes. The heated exchanges and the consequential stoppages had taken the sheen away from Itaue’s early strike as he found the minutest of holes in Hindustan’s defence to beat goalkeeper Priyant Singh.

In the second half, with most of the jerseys picking up dust and dirt, the more-than-average Ambedkar Stadium crowd anticipated some action, this time with the ball. Hindustan, apart from digesting the bookings, had also the one-goal deficit to contend with. With frontmen Okorogo and Sunday still struggling to find their scoring boots, and Stanley standing tall for Heroes in the defence, it was Hindustan's defenders who combined to negate the deficit in the 55th minute — skipper Pushpender Kundu using his height to head in a perfectly-placed cross from Monitombi Singh from the right. The goal suddenly inspired an otherwise listless Sunday to a solo run that ended with him over-running the ball, and on the next move, he lost possession as his ill-directed pass intercepted the vacant spot between Mahinder and Okorogo.

The defending champions kept hitting hard into the opponents’ half, with Stanley overlapping with Varun and Gagandeep from the left, but their invasions were handled by Hindustan’s midfield or kept off by the defence comprising Anil Bara, Jagbandhu Modi, Kundu and Monitombi.

“The financial crisis has affected our players. Eight players were sacked in the middle of the season. Everytime we take the field, we've different thoughts in our minds. I have to invigorate them (players) before every match. But this is like forcing them to play and we're not playing our natural game. Today, I was limping, but couldn't go out. I hope the management will get things settled soon,” Stanley said.