I-League 2nd Division
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: In a good day for city football clubs, both Ar-Hima FC and Royal Wahingdoh FC won their inaugural matches in the preliminary round of the 2nd Division I-League which kicked off on Wednesday.
Ar-Hima defeated Aizawl XI 3-1 at Silchar while Wahingdoh beat hosts Samaleshwari 2-0 at Cuttack, Odisha.
Ar-Hima’s Nigerian striker Babatunde Badmus scored on either halves to make it a hat trick which took his team to victory.
Earlier, Ar-Hima made no secrets of its intentions when it started the game on an attacking note and the team from Shillong went into the lead in the 20th minute when Babatunde scored a stunner.
Aizawl XI on the other hand could not capitalize on the few opportunities that they created.
Crossing over, Ar-Hima continued its dominance and star striker Babatunde struck again in the 50th minute to take the lead to 2-0.After conceding this second goal, Aizawl came back strong to reduce the margin in the 70th minute.
However, it was Babatunde’s day and the Nigerian striker completed his hat trick in the 85th minute to virtually take the game away from Aizawl.
It may be mentioned that Babatunde was instrumental in Ar-Hima’s success in the Shillong Premier League and the Meghalaya Invitation Cup last year. Meanwhile, unfortunately for Ar-Hima, central defender Ennyinaya Loveday was sent off during the match and he would miss out on the next tie.
When contacted, Ar-Hima Subrata Bhattacharya said that he is satisfied with the performance of the team in their inaugural encounter.
“In the initial part of the match my players were having some problems due to new ball which was introduced by AIFF for this tournament. The players had to adjust with the bounce. It was only the later part of the match that our boys got used to it (the ball),” Bhattacharya said while also hoping that as the tournament progress, the players would deliver better in the next tie on February 7.
In the other match played at Cuttack, Royal Wahingdoh romped to victory with first half goals from skipper Seityachen Singh and Nigerian striker Kareem Nurrain.
Wahingdoh dominated ball possession from the outset and the Shillong side drew first blood in the 19th minute after skipper Seityachen Singh scored a stunner.
To add to the misery of the hosts, Royals doubled the lead six minutes later when Kareem Nurrain netted one for his side. There was not much resistance from Samaleshwari who went down meekly.
Wahingdoh coach Carlton Chapman said that the team had displayed good football against the home side.
“We are looking forward to an improved performance in the next game,” he added.
While praising the home side, he said that Samaleshwari has three good foreign players who were great to watch.
Another club from the city, Langsning SC will play their first match against Luangmual FC in New Delhi on Thursday.
