Canadian striker Iain Hume struck a hat-trick as Kerala Blasters won their first game on road beating a hapless Delhi Dynamos 3-1 in a ninth-round Indian Super League encounter, here on Wednesday.
In the 12th minute, Hume drew first blood as Courage made it all happen. He dribbled past Pritam Kotal on the left and got inside the box and went to the byline and squared it in, beating Gabriel Cichero's slide and found Hume's feet. Hume slotted it home.
His silver jubilee strike was when he took the ball from the throw-in in his stride, turned and got inside the box. He slotted it low past the keeper to find the back of the net.
Both teams went into the break locked 1-1. After the restart, Delhi Dynamo showed more impetus going forward. Lallianzuala Chhangte put in a few good balls into the box for the Delhi forwards to take advantage of.
But it was Hume who gave his side the lead again in the 77th minute. After taking the ball from a throw-in, Hume charged into the box taking on defenders before slotting the ball past the Delhi keeper. Ten minutes before full time, Hume settles the tie with a third on the night. A Mark Sifneos through ball put Hume through on goal, and the Canadian international lifted the ball over the onrushing keeper to complete his hat-trick
With the superb win, Kerala Blaster moved up in the table to the sixth spot with 11 points in nine matches while Delhi Dynamos continued their poor run of form and are stuck at the bottom of the table with just 4 points in the similar amount of matches.