Margao: A confident Shillong Lajong FC take on Sporting club de Goa in a crucial third round I- League match to be played at Nehru stadium here on Monday.
Lajong are sitting at four points with a win against HAL Bangalore and a goalless draw against Pune FC and coach Pradhyum Reddy is satisfied with the way his team started the campaign.
“A draw against strong Pune FC and a win against HAL has raised the confidence of the boys and we are hoping to maintain the same momentum against Sporting tomorrow,” said Reddy adding though Sporting has the home advantage, his boys are ready for it.
Sporting, who drew their first home match against Prayag United, were disappointed for conceding two easy goals to Pune FC after taking the lead through Kalu Nnanna and Freiman Peixto as they sit on two points from the matches.
Sporting have 4 goals in their name from two outings so far against Lajong’s one from the same number of games. But the team from Shillong has not conceded a single goal in the tournament so far which speaks volumes about their defence.
“We have consistently done well in this area (defence) for quite some time now,” said the Lajong coach.
Sporting coach Ekendra Singh is also aware of the threat from Shillong Lajong who are upbeat after defeating HAL in their last match.
“We need to win and tomorrow we have a good chance to do it as we are playing at home. We committed a few mistakes against Pune FC but have ironed them out. We are ready for tomorrow’s contest and hoping for full points.
”Lajong is a strong team and performed well in the last two outings. We need to be cautious against the visitors,” Singh said.
Sporting boast of big names and their three pronge foreigners James Moga, Kalu ogba, Keita Babakar along with Mackroy, Freiman peixote, Bobai singh, young Victorino Fernandes, Lester Fernandes are in good nick.
On the other hand John Meyonger, Eugenson Lygdoh among others are players to watch from Lajong. (Agencies)