By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Josimar Martins scored a hat-trick as Prayag United compounded Shillong Lajong FC’s miseries with a 5-3 win over the hosts in a Round 25 match of the I-League at the JN Stadium here on Sunday.
Despite drawing first blood, Lajong crashed to their fifth defeat in a row as Prayag moved to the fifth spot in the points table with 42 points from 25 matches. The home team, meanwhile, linger at the tenth position with 27 points from 25 games.
For Lajong Sushil Kumar Singh (7th min), Eugeneson Lyngdoh (16th minute) and Mathew Mayora (79th min) were the scorers. Whereas Josimar Martins (34, 55 and 80), S Tluanga (11th min) and Denson Devadas (28th min) found the nets for Prayag.
Sushil Kumar opened the scoring for Lajong after Renedy Singh took a corner in the 7th minute. However, the hosts’ joy was shortlived as S Tluanga restored parity for Prayag in the 11th minute after his shot was deflected into the back of the net by a defender. Two early goals set the pace of the match which promised to be a high scoring one. Lajong took the lead again, when Eugeneson Lyngdoh’s header eventually found the nets in the 16th minute.
However, a 28th minute goal by Denson Devadas made it 2-2 for the visitors.
Spurred by the comeback, Prayag went into the attack and a Tluanga cross from the left flank found Josimar Martins who made no mistake to converrt the first of his three goals in the 34th minute.
Crossing over, Martins doubled the lead for Prayag after a good run in the 55th minute. The lack of coordination among Lajong’s players was clearly visible and Mathew Mayora, who came in place of Lalramluaha, missed on an opportunity to reduce the lead for his team when he failed to convert with just the goalkeeper to beat after an excellent pass from skipper John Menyonger.
But Menyonger, who looked in excellent touch, made an excellent run fron the right wing to find Mayora again and this time the Australian got his name on the score sheet after firing from close range in the 79th minute to make it 3-4 for his side. However, Martins scored his treble a minute later to seal a 5-3 victory for Prayag.
Dempo drub Sporting
Ranty Martins scored four goals as Dempo scored a resounding 4-1 win over Sporting Clube de Goa to be 12 points clear of second-placed East Bengal and firmly on course of the I-League title win for the fifth time. (With inputs from PTI from Margao)