By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Although their winless streak has now been extended to eight matches, Shillong Lajong FC can take some comfort after drawing their I-League match against defending champions Dempo at the JN Stadium, Polo, on Sunday.
The goalless game lacked neither suspense nor thrills for the Shillong crowd, who had to settle for their team sharing points with the Goan giants.
The hosts were the better team on the day, holding most of the possession and continually attacking in the Dempo half, although none of their chances came off.
With striker Sushil Kumar Singh suspended for one match, the Shillong team were forced to field Ebi Sukore, recently returned from injury, up front along with Friday Gbeneme.
The two Nigerians received tumultuous cheers as they stretched the Dempo defence early on, but as the match worn on and each attempt on goal was rebuffed or went wide, Friday, in particular, bore the brunt of the crowd’s frustration.
The striker is going through a run of bad luck, which as affected his confidence, said Desmond Bulpin on Friday, but the coach added that he still had confidence in the player.
Friday was energetic in the field and helped to create opportunities with some fine displays of passing and coordination with his team mates. What was absent, however, was the finish to convert those chances into goals.
Lajong started aggressively, with Friday in action early on with a couple of nice forays in the eighth and 10th minutes.
Two of the best chances for Lajong came in the 22nd and 25th minutes. In the first, Friday headed the ball to Ebi close to the Dempo box. Ebi passed it back to Friday, now unmarked, who took a running strike slightly off balance and hit it wide. Although it was a missed chance, the crowd responded positively and in the next few minutes Lajong were in the ascendance.
In the 25th minute Lalchhuanmawia, who was named Man-of-the-Match, ran up the left flank and passed the ball in between two Dempo defenders to Ebi who was just inside the penalty box. Three defenders were pressing on Ebi, however, and he kicked the ball over the crossbar.
Dempo had their chances in the first half but often lost the ball through some sloppy play.
SLFC were not blameless, either, however. In the 44th minute defender Lallawnzuala dropped the ball almost into the lap of striker Koko Sakibo deep in Lajong’s half, but thankfully for the home team, nothing came of the resulting opportunity.
Three changes were made by Bulpin in the second half, with Jacob Lalrawngbawla coming on for Lalramluaha Hmar at the restart.
Shillong Lajong started slowly and the visitors had a half chance almost immediately. With Dempo getting the second half underway, Clifford Miranda had the ball in Lajong’s half but took a tumble in the box, for which the referee took no action.
Two minutes later Anthony Pereira put in a dramatic-looking bicycle kick, but the ball went over the bar.
It was only after four minutes of play in the second half that the Lajong players really came alive.
Jibon Singh had a look-in in the 53rd minute up the left flank and there was good defending on display by Minchol Son during the Dempo counterattacks.
Ebi had to be substituted on the hour mark after he collided with a sprinting Lallawnzuala in the Dempo box; they were both going for the ball and either did not see each other or did not communicate effectively enough.
Ebi came off the worse and had to be stretchered off. He was replaced by Renedy Singh, who was an injury worry for the club before the game.
Renedy almost brought immediate joy to the spectators. During an attack on the Dempo goal he was unmarked and struck a fearsome volley just wide of the upright.
In contrast to the Lajong defence, which was tight and effective, Dempo’s was shambolic at times, but the home team could not make them pay for their mistakes.
One such chance came in the 76th minute when Jibon was unmarked and in possession of the ball in the box. He had time to take a good strike but hit it wide. Two minutes later he made a good run but mistimed his shot on goal.
At this stage the crowd were audible in their chants of “Boithang, Boithang, we want Boithang” and the Manipur player was duly substituted in for Jibon in the 78th minute.
Despite his inclusion, there was little more that Lajong were able to do to break the deadlock. They were, however, almost helped by two own goals from Dempo.
In the 84th minute the ball was played back to Dempo custodian Subhasish Chowdhury, but it was too wide for him to collect.
Fortune was with the Goans, however, as the ball hit the upright and stayed out of goal. Then, in stoppage time, a miscued clearance in front of goal by a defender fortuitously went straight to Chowdhury, who collected it and saved his side some embarrassment.
It was neither side’s finest performance, but both teams can still be pleased.
Dempo take away a point from an away game against tricky opponents and remain in fourth place in the points table.
Lajong, on the other hand, move up to 11th spot, one point ahead of Salgaocar, although they have also played an additional match.
In other matches on the day, East Bengal beat Mumbai FC 2-0 at home.
Churchill Brothers later beat United Sikkim 2-1 to stay on top of the standings.
East Bengal move up to second, while Mumbai and Sikkim stay in sixth and 13th respectively.