SHILLONG: Four exciting matches were held on Wednesday in the U-14 Football Tournament 2013, organised by the Shillong Sports Association.
The first match saw Lummawbah SC beat Pohkseh SC 2-0.
Lummawbah took the lead early on in the third minute through Khlurshaiwang Tangsang.
This lead did not affect the goal-hungry Pohkseh players, who fought hard to find the equaliser and even came close to scoring on two occasions, but their efforts went in vain and the first half ended 1-0.
Coming in to the second half, Lummawbah tried to gain the upper hand but without success as Pohkseh resisted.
It was only in the 44th minute that Lummawbah fully utilised the chances that came their way when Deron Kharpuri found the net and the leaders held on until the end of the match.
Shillong Lajong and Mylliem fought it out in the second game, which was a little one-sided, at least going by the result, with Lajong coming through with a 4-0 win.
The experienced Lajong found Mylliem hard to crack until almost the end of the first session, however, when Afridi Warjri scored in the dying seconds of the first half.
In the second half, Lajong’s players fully implemented the instructions of their coach and mounted consistent attacks at Mylliem’s defence and Freestar Kharbangar made full use of a chance to score in the 39th minute.
Thereafter Mylliem could not withstand the pressure anymore and let in another two goals in the 56th and 57th minutes through Guidingstar Malieh.
In the third match of the day, Umpling SC had struggle hard to defeat Riatsamthiah SC 2-1.
Umpling took the lead in the sixth minute through Edilbert Kyrsiang but almost immediately lost the advantage as Riatsamthiah equalised in the next minute through Carnestaer Khardewsaw.
The match then started to become more interesting as both teams tried to gain the upper hand and score.
It was the tricky Bantylli Basan who took the ball inside the Riatsamthiah goal area and scored in the 25th minute for Umpling and the first half ended 2-1 in Umpling’s favour.
Both teams tried hard in the second session but to no avail and the match ended 2-1 to Umpling.
The last match of the day, between MLP and Umlyngka, had a large crowd of spectators to witness the contest, which Umlyngka won 4-0.
As both sides needed a victory to reach the semis, the match was exciting right from the word go.
Although Umlyngka enjoyed a height advantage over their opponents, the young MLP lads showed that they can never be taken for granted.
They fought hard and came near to scoring on two occasions in the first half, but with the session coming to a close Wilison Majaw found the net for Umlyngka in the 29th minute.
The MLP lads continued to fight hard, but let in three more goals.
Gedeon Lyngdoh (39th minute), Brightstar Rapsang (54th) and Iaipynskhem Tron (59th) ensured that Umlyngka progressed to the semifinals with the 4-0 win.
Thursday’s matches: Royal Wahingdoh vs Nongkseh (10:00am), Ryntih vs Smit (11:00am), Malki vs Marbisu (12:45pm) and Mawkhar vs Risa Colony (2:15pm).