By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Following their defeat against Sporting Clube De Goa at home, Shillong Lajong FC will take on big-spending club Prayag United in a round four match to be played at JN Stadium, Polo, at 2:30pm on Sunday.
The home club will face a tough challenge playing against the in-form Kolkata team, who are unbeaten this season.
The Reds need to bounce back after what would have been a morale-sapping performance against Sporting in the last match.
The major concern for the team is the inconsistency in the performance of the players, which was glaring during their 1-2 defeat against the Goan side.
The home side has an additional concern with the sacking of star midfielder Johnny Meyongnar earlier this week.
What is suprising is that the team management has tried to downplay the whole issue by remaining mum on the reason that prompted them to sack Meyongnar, who was one of their best peformers last season.
For Prayag United, everything seems to be going well at present. The visiting team is still unbeaten with two wins and a draw from their three outings.
Prayag United are, at present, third in the standings with seven points.
The pluses for the visitors going into Sunday’s match are that they have players in their squad who can be match-winners.
Shillong Lajong will look for a repetition of their performance in the Mohun Bagan match, where they defeated the Bengal giants 2-1 to get their I-League seaon off to a perfect start.
Lajong’s Scottish coach, Desmond Bulpin, will expect better from his boys after he criticised them for taking Sporting too lightly.
During the pre-match conference here on Saturday, Prayag head coach Sanjoy Sen said that his boys should not lose their concentration and should stay focused on the task at hand.
He also commented that in any football tournament a team cannot always win every game.
“Also, no one should judge whether a player is good or not just by one performance. It can take time for a team to settle down and adapt to different situations,” Sen said.
He also added that Lajong is a good team and they play high quality football.
Meanwhile, Bulpin said that Prayag United is one of the best teams in the I-League and they have performed remarkably well right from the start of the season.
The coach expressed his eagerness for the upcoming clash and he hoped that the crowd will stand behind the team and support the boys throughout the match.
“The boys have the fighting spirit and I believe that they will continue to fight till the end because they have the will to never give up,” he added.
SLFC captain Renedy Singh admited that Prayag United is a tough side to beat this season and they have good players in their squad.
“We will have a good match tomorrow and the boys will definitely put up a good fight.
“We have to play a high tempo and high pressure game in order to beat the Kolkata side. We will play for a win,” the skipper concluded.