Calcutta: The focus and attention was on Roberto Carlos, but it was his compatriot Gustavo dos Santos, who hogged the limelight.

Coming in as a substitute a quarter into the second session, Dos Santos scored off a wonderful set-up from Florent Malouda at the fag end of the game, as a 10-man Delhi Dynamos carved out a crucial 1-0 win over a struggling Atletico de Kolkata (ATK) in Thursday's ISL II encounter, at the Salt Lake Stadium.

It appeared at one stage that Carlos might have been a bit late in bringing Dos Santos in the middle, as there was near-panic in the ATK zone whenever the ball was in the latter's possession.

Nonetheless, Dos Santos ensured he did the job that his coach expected him to do. He delivered at a time when there was hardly any second left for Antonio Lopez Habas's men to even things out. No wonder Carlos and Co. couldn't have asked for anything better.

It was in the third minute after regulation time when Malouda, one of the rare bright spots of the match, churned out a superb pass for the Brazilian after beating Jaime Gavilan with a dodge. Keeping himself unmarked, Dos Santos found the target with a left-footed grounder.

A precious victory for the Dynamos, no doubt, as they shoot above the rest to join table-toppers FC Pune City at 12 points, the latter being ahead only in terms of goal difference. It's a win that Carlos and his troops will savour because they played on a surface not very appropriate for a proper football match. And on top of that, they conceded the numerical advantage when Souvik Chakraborty was sent off, being booked for the second time - in the 80th minute - after a foul on Gavilan.

Even though he didn't do anything significant during his half-an-hour stay on the field - after replacing John Riise in the 64 th minute - Carlos was a satisfied man as it only shows that he is guiding the Dynamos to the right direction. Not everyone in his team was perfect on Thursday, but Carlos is certainly taking the right calls, giving the players their preferred positions and above all, motivating the team to good effect, something an ideal coach should be doing.

And for ATK, things seem to be getting worse as they have now lost three matches on the trot. Yes, they have found it extremely difficult to be consistent with their playing XI because of injuries to key players. But the actual problem is absence of an out-and-out striker and a playmaker. Habas and the rest may not accept it, but the presence of a Luis Garcia would definitely have given them some relief at least.

Delhi Dynamos: Antonio Doblas; Souvik Chakraborty, Anas Edathodika (Naoba Singh, 85), John Riise (Roberto Carlos, 64), Zodingliana Tochhawng; Hans Mulder, Florent Malouda, Sebastiao Cardoso; Francis Fernandes, Robin Singh, Richard Gadze (Gustavo dos Santos, 60)

Atletico de Kolkata: Amrinder Singh; Rino Anto, Arnab Mondal, Tiri, Augustine Fernandes; Ofentse Nato, Borja Fernandez; Baljit Singh Sahni (Sheikh Jewel Raja, 70), Jaime Gavilan, Sameehg Doutie (Sushil Singh, 87); Iain Hume

Referee: Ali MHMT Shaban

Hero of the Match: Anas Edathodika