Lajong bow to Churchill in 1st ‘home match’ of the season
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In a major disappointment for the home fans, Shillong Lajong crashed to its first home defeat going down 0-2 to Churchill Brothers in a Round 15 I-League match played at the JN Stadium here on Wednesday.
Skipper Roberto Silva (Beto) struck on either half of the match for the Goan side who were professional in their approach from the word go. The buoyant Churchill boosted their championship chances with the win as they move to the third position with 29 points in their kitty.
Lajong on the other hand remain at 17 points to elongate their stay at the bottom half of the table.
Expectations were high on the Reds to deliver in front of the almost capacity crowd but the hosts went down to miss out on crucial home points which could prove costly to the team towards the end of the season.
Shillong’s premier club have a lot to ponder over as they face another strong challenge in the form of Dempo in their next tie here and the biggest area of concern for Lajong would be its midfield which looked in total disarray in Wednesday’s encounter.
In a contest that failed to live up to the expectations, Churchill were steady from the outset and dominated most of the first half. They broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute when a hand ball from Lajong’s Zenith Mashangva resulted in a penalty for the Goans.
Beto’s shot went sailing into the nets to stun the jam packed stadium silencing the thousands of home fans.
Lajong too pnenetrated the opposition defence on a number of occasions but failed to create any real scoring opportunities.
Crossing over, Lajong came out strongly to dominate the proceedings. The cheers got louder when the Churchill defenders were put under some real pressure for the first time in the match by the Lajong strikers. Local boy Eugeneson Lyngdoh nearly got his team back into the match when his powerful strike taken from inside the box was brilliantly saved by Churchill custodian Felix Dsousa in the 56th minute.
Two minutes later, Eugeneson missed another golden opportunity to score after his strong right footer taken from outside the box missed the target by a whisker.
However,after controlling the game during the initial part of the second half, Lajong allowed Churchill to come back into the match.
Star Indian midfielder, Steven Diaz who was just in for Churchill took a brilliant free kick in the 79th minute only to find Beto who made no mistake to head the ball into the nets to take an unassailable 2-0 lead for his team. Beto was also awarded the man-of-the-match.
