SHILLONG: Two first half goals meant that a thrilling I-League match between Shillong Lajong FC and Mohun Bagan at the JN Stadium, Polo, ended 1-1 on Wednesday evening.
The first half began tamely, with both sides making careless errors that prevented them from building up any momentum in attack.
Bagan, missing out on the services on star striker Odafa Okolie because of injury, had Katsumi Yusa firing on all cylinders, with the Japanese constantly in the thick of the action during the first 45 minutes.
In the 17th minute he fed the ball ahead of Sabeeth Sathyan, but Lajong goalkeeper Vinay Singh was alert enough to rush forward to collect the ball.
Katsumi was then fouled by SLFC’s Wailadmi Passah in the 26th minute and the attacking midfielder took a beautiful free kick that forced Vinay to dive to his left just to put the ball out.
The hosts earned the first goal against the run of play courtesy a foul on Uilliams Souza Silva by Celestine Echezona in the 36th minute, resulting in a red card for the defender after earlier picking up a yellow for a separate foul on Uilliams.
The Mariners were visibly displeased with the decision, but had to put it behind them.
Cornell Glen stepped up to take the penalty, placing it neatly past opposition goalkie and skipper Shilton Paul for his sixth goal of the season.
Bagan were behind for just a couple of minutes when Sathyan was passed the ball on the left in Lajong territory. The striker passed back to Zakeer Mundampara and the latter, unmarked, thundered a low shot that deflected off Milan Singh, leaving Vinay a spectator as the ball entered the back of the net.
The end of the first session was marred somewhat by some unfortunate scenes after Katsumi was fouled around the halfway line.
Glen made additional contact with Katsumi after the referee halted play and there was then some pushing and shoving between the players from both sides, the end result of which netted Glen a yellow and Jibon Singh a straight red card for his actions during the melee, leaving both sides with 10 men.
The second half began with both teams making a change.
The Kolkatan club brought on former SLFC player Aiborlang Khongjee in place of Sankar Oraon, while the hosts introduced Taisuke Matsugae – coming back from injury like Glen – and took out Jacob Lalrawngbawla.
With both teams now thoroughly fired up, the action was intense from the start of the second session as the two clubs pressed for the lead.
After an hour’s play, exciting talent Subash Singh was brought on in place of Seikhohao Tuboi.
Lajong earned three corners in quick time from the 73rd minute onwards and Paul was called upon to make as many saves to rescue his team. The momentum was all for the home side by this point and the crowd really got behind the Reds.
A left-footer from Uilliams was saved by Paul, but the ball was not adequately cleared and the Brazilian quickly got the ball back. His cross was met by the head of Matsugae, whose effort went wide.
Subash earned his team another good chance just a minute later in the 79th.
The diminutive striker got past his marker and put in a beautiful header, but an even better save from Paul kept the scores level.
After what seemed like a good 20 minutes of being stuck in their own half, Bagan finally managed to saunter forward in the last five minutes on a couple of occasions, but no further goals materialised, although there were tense moments for both sides before the final whistle blew.
Deservedly, the Bagan custodian was named the Man-of-the-Match for his excellent performance under the bar.
While the Mariners’ coach Karim Bencherifa said he was pleased with the draw given the relative inexperience of his side, Lajong coach Thangboi Singto regretted the way the home team conceded just two minutes after taking the lead.
“I’ve explained to the boys that the first few minutes after scoring are the most vulnerable,” he explained.
Asked how he would describe the concession of the goal, he replied, “It was sloppy.”
The one point from this encounter moved SLFC up to fifth place in the table, one point ahead of United SC, who have a game in hand.
The next match will see Lajong take on Rangdajied United on November 22.
In other matches on the day, Mohammedan Sporting beat Mumbai FC 1-0.
Dempo also downed Churchill Brothers by the same margin, while Pune FC moved to second position with a 1-0 victory as well, over Bengaluru FC.
