Shillong Premier League
SHILLONG: In the most one-sided match of the Shillong Premier League season thus far, Royal Wahingdoh FC cruised to a comprehensive 6-0 victory over bottom-placed Mawlai SC at Polo Grounds on Thursday
Wahingdoh, who began their tournament a little slowly with a draw and a loss, have now won two successive games; they earlier defeated MLP 5-0.
The Royals dominated possession from the start of play, allowing Mawlai not more than three shots at goal throughout the match. Mawlai also struggled to cope with the Royals’ attack, conceding four goals in the second half.
Atsushi Yonezawa opened the scoring following a mix-up in the box that saw Mawlai’s keeper fail to hold on to an easy ball.
Man-of-the-Match Lalchhawnkima then produced a beautiful 36th minute header into the goal following a cross to make it 2-0 for Wahingdoh at half time.
The defending champions started the second half where they left off, with Jacki converting a 59th minute shot.
Two minutes later, Zosangkima joined the bandwagon as he pierced the defence, making the score 4-0.
Finally, substitute Bickyson Kharkongor added two more goals in the 77th and 84th minutes, with the first shot taken from a wide angle into the far corner.
All the teams have now played four matches, but although Wahingdoh have seven points and are in third place in the standings, their two thumping wins have come against the weaker teams this season and they need to do well against the stronger sides as well.
Before this match, Mawlai were in the penultimate spot in the points table, but have dropped to the bottom given the severity of the defeat, which means that they have a worse goal difference than MLP.
Friday will see an interesting match when current leaders Rangdajied United FC play second-placed Nangkiew Irat at 3:15pm at the JN Sports Complex, Polo.
Nangkiew are just two points behind RUFC and a win would push them to the top of the table, giving them a slender lead.