SHILLONG: Much to the satisfaction of the home fans, a spirited Shillong Lajong FC came back from behind to defeat in-form Prayag United 3-2 in a Round IV match of the I-League here at the JN Sports Complex on Sunday.
With this win, Lajong now have seven points from four matches. Prayag United, who were in third place in the points table before Sunday, have dropped two places to fifth, one spot above Lajong on goal difference.
The points table saw a shake-up on Sunday with a total of five I-League matches held in various venues.
At the start of the match, many would have written off Shillong Lajong from the contest. And the home team seemed set to confirm these predictions of doom as they trailed twice in the match.
However, it was the spirit of the SLFC players that guided them to this memorable victory, one of the major upsets of the season so far.
In the high-scoring affair, Prayag went into the lead as early as the fourth minute of the game after Nigerian striker Ranti Martins found the net following a well crafted free-kick by Carlos Hernandez, which was taken 34 yards from the goal.
After conceding this early goal, the Reds started to press forward and managed to keep the Prayag United defenders busy.
SLFC finally managed to equalise in the 20th minute after striker Sushil Kumar Singh made a lovely through pass towards Friday Gbeneme, who made no mistake to put the ball out of reach of Prayag custodian Subrata Pal.
Eight minutes later, referee Rahul Das caught Wailadmi Passah handling the ball inside the box and awarded a penalty kick. Ranti made no mistake and gave the Kolkata side the lead again.
With the game turning into the high-voltage event that fans of the game would have wanted, the referee gave a spot kick in favour of Lajong after he caught Rasaq Olidemeji Bello bringing down Lalramluaha Hmar inside the box.
Friday converted the spot kick and equalised for the second time in the match.
The first half ended with both teams locked at 2-2.
After the lemon break, it was Lajong who dominated proceedings. In the 68th minute, Haokip, who had just substituted skipper Renedy Singh a minute before, took a powerful shot to score the winner.
During the post-match press conference, SLFC coach Desmond Bulpin expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the match.
“I am happy the way the boys have played in today’s match. I can proudly say this is one of the biggest wins of the team in this season so far,” Bulpin said while also acknowledging that Prayag were worthy and strong opponents, which resulted in a good game of football.
Prayag United coach Sanjoy Sen also lauded the Shillong side for their victory.
“I would not hesitate to that the Shillong team is one of the few I-League teams which will be tough to defeat at home,” Sen said.
In the day’s other matches, United Sikkim played out a goalless draw with Pailan Arrows in Gangtok.
Sporting Clube de Goa, the team that beat Lajong in their last match, lost away to Mohun Bagan 1-3, while Air India tasted success for the first time this season with a 4-2 win over ONGC.
Giants Churchill Brothers scored just one goal against Pune, but that was enough for them to earn three points and move to second in the table.
Pune and Mohun Bagan are just one point behind Lajong, which means that despite the good start for the Reds, they need to keep their momentum going forward, especially as their next match will be an away fixture against Dempo on November 10.