Blues snatch victory from jaws of defeat

SHILLONG: In what was arguably one of the greatest comeback matches in the I-League, Rangdajied United FC triumphed at the JN Stadium here on Wednesday evening, fighting from two goals to nil to defeat Pune FC 3-2.

There were delirious scenes at the ground as the hosts scored two goals in second half stoppage time to steal the match from under Pune’s feet for the first home win of the season for the Blues.

The visitors took the lead via Mustapha Rahamat and then doubled their advantage thanks to Gurjinder Kumar, to go into half time leading 2-0.

However, Rangdajied displayed a tremendous never-say-die attitude to claw their way back, scoring through Edmar Figueira, Kim Song Yong and T Lalnunpuia.

Pune took the lead in the 23rd minute. On the right flank, Arata Izumi cut the ball sharply to the left, beating two Pune players and defenders. Mustapha, however, was in position to rocket the ball with his right foot from just outside the box that hit the lower part of the crossbar and went in.

The visitors made it 2-0 in the 34th minute with a mistake from Poibiang Pohshna. Izumi went deep on the right and crossed the ball in. Pohshna could not clear the ball before Mustapha arrived on the scene and Gurjinder Kumar came steaming in to then chip the ball neatly past Subrata Paul.

Rangdajied were not playing badly, but a couple of defensive lapses cost them greatly.

The Blues brought another man forward in David Ngaihte in place of Pohshna at the start of the second half and the hosts were instantly the more attacking team with at least three plays forward in the opening five minutes.

Ngaihte brought new life to RUFC and a good effort from him was spectacularly stopped by goalkeeper Amrinder Singh.

In the 54th minute the ball was fed into the box and Ngaihte volleyed looking for the corner of the net but Amrinder’s dive kept the ball out.

Three minutes later Rangdajied United were able to reduce the margin through Figueira, a former Pune FC player. The striker, who has missed a few games through injury, delivered a powerful left-footer from outside the box that flew into the back of the net, beating Amrinder.

Pune later made their first change, bringing on S Venkatesh on for Fanai Lalrempuia, but the visitors hardly had a look-in during the second session.

Rangdajied, meanwhile, decided to go all out for the equaliser by soon after T Lalnunpuia in place of Munmun Lugun.

A stunning turn of events in stoppage time saw the game turned on its head. Five minutes were added and these proved crucial.

Kim equalised after a massive scramble for the ball in the Pune penalty box. The North Korean happened to be in the right place as the ball popped up at waist level for him to hammer it home.

Just two minutes later it was the turn of substitute Lalnunpuia, who scored the winner with a surprise strike from well outside 30 yards, sending the crowd into raptures just before the referee blew the whistle to bring the curtains down on a fantastic game of football.

Speaking after the match, RUFC coach Santosh Kashyap described his boys’ performance as “tremendous”.

He said that because Rangdajied had fought back in other matches he was not despondent about being 2-0 down at half time.

“Forty-five minutes is a long time in football and I told them (the players) that we have come back before and we can come back now.

“We have now become a very dangerous team and we will soon get out of the relegation zone.” he said.

Rangdajied are still in the relegation zone, but now have 11 points from two victories and five draws.

They will next face Mumbai FC in Shillong on Sunday.

Mumbai, meanwhile, held Mohun Bagan 1-1 in Kolkata at the Kalyani Stadium.

Also in Kolkata, but at the Salt Lake Stadium, Mohammedan Sporting went down 2-3 to table leaders Bengaluru FC.

Salgaocar then played out a goalless draw at home with East Bengal.

Pune FC, despite their loss, are third in the standings after the All India Football Federation confirmed on their website that the Red Lizards have been awarded a victory in an earlier match against Salgaocar, which had ended in a draw. This is because the Goan club had fielded two players who were ineligible for the fixture.

Salgaocar were therefore docked one point.

This bit of drama means that Shillong Lajong FC ha

ve dropped to fourth place.

I-League 2013-14

Bengaluru FC    13     8     2     3    23     12      27
Sporting Clube de Goa    12     6     3     3    16      12       21
Pune FC    12     6     3     3    16     10      21
Shillong Lajong FC    13     5     3     5    17      16       20
United SC    13     4     3     6    14     15      18
Salgaocar    13     5     5     3    17     17       18
East Bengal    10     4     3     3    16      12      15
Mohun Bagan    13     3     4     6    11      11      15
Mumbai FC    13     3     4     6    17     18       15
Mohammedan Sporting    12     3     5     4    12     14       13
Dempo SC    13     2     4     7    11     15       13
Rangdajied United FC    13     2     6     5    13     23       11
Churchill Brothers    12     1     7     4     9      17       7