Kim, Ranti and Puia make hay under lights
SHILLONG: Rangdajied United FC earned their first ever back-to-back victory in the I-League with a smashing 4-0 triumph over United SC and finally moved out of the relegation zone.
The Shillong club are now in 11th place with 18 points, ahead of Mohammedan Sporting and Churchill Brothers, although the latter two teams have played one less game.
The Blues are now one point behind Mumbai FC, who lost 2-0 at Salgaocar in the other game on Sunday.
All four goals for Rangdajied were scored in the second half, with Kim Song Yong putting the hosts into the lead, followed by Ranti Martins and a brace from T Lalnunpuia.
This was the Chosen Ones biggest margin of victory in the I-League. In fact, they have never scored four goals in a top tier match this season.
Perhaps encouraged by their team’s 3-2 win over Bengaluru FC last week, a large crowd turned up for Sunday’s contest at the JN Stadium, Polo, and were treated to some excellent football.
Rangdajied had a slew of opportunities in the first half, but, either through poor execution or bad luck, they were unable to score.
Ranti Martins was in the thick of things for the hosts, creating several chances against his old team.
In the 16th minute a long ball was searching for Kim Song Yong, but the North Korean could not get his head to the ball and neither could United clear it away properly. Martins then came in but his powerful shot was blocked.
The Nigerian headed the ball wide in the next minute and saw a long-range shot just sail over the crossbar in the 19th. A minute later United goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee pulled up with an injury, but neither the referee nor Rangdajied stopped play. Martins had just one defender in front of him, but headed the ball wide.
The Kolkatan outfit were forced into making a change with Jayanta Paul coming on for Mukherjee.
United had a couple of look-ins, with Okolabi Waheed Adekunle attacking up the left early on in the match and a Md Rafique coming close in the 37th when his effort was cleared off the line by Yohei Iwasaki.
An absorbing first half thus ended 0-0 and the Blues were in no mood to rest on their laurels, with Steven Dias firing wide immediately after the restart after a cross from Munmun Lugun.
The breakthrough came in the 53rd minute for the home team, with Kim brilliantly weaving past a couple of defenders and firing the ball from outside the box.
United never really looked close to scoring and they went 2-0 down in the 69th minute.
Kim had possession on the right and with a slight lapse in defence, he was able to feed the ball forward to a sprinting Martins, who, unmarked, only had to beat the keeper, which he did with a left-footer.
With less than 10 minutes left, Lalnunpuia was brought on in place of Munmun and the lightning quick forward made it 3-0 in the 86th minute.
A lofted ball should have been easily collected by Jayanta, but the keeper fumbled it, allowing Lalnunpuia to tap in without much trouble.
His second goal was even easier and came in stoppage time.
There was absolutely no one marking him on the left and with only the keeper to beat, he made it 4-0 with a well placed shot, bringing an end to a fine performance for the Blues.
The 20-year-old is now the top-scorer for the club, with five goals to his name.
Although not getting his name on the scoresheet, midfielder Elam Abocha Singh was named Man-of-the-Match for a solid performance.
Rangdajied coach Hering Shangpliang paid tribute to the boys, saying the result was their doing.
He still felt that there are areas where the team need to work on, noting the many missed chances in the first half.
Shangpliang’s thoughts then moved to the next big match, which will see RUFC take on Mohun Bagan on March 15, and he said that his charges will aim to perform at their best.
Rangdajied have happy memories of playing Bagan. The Blues won their first I-League game against the Mariners in Kolkatan on December 1, their first victory in 11 matches of their first season.
I-League 2013-14
Team P W L D GF GA Pts
Bengaluru FC 18 10 4 4 31 19 34
Pune FC 18 8 4 6 24 17 30
Salgaocar FC 18 9 6 3 25 20 30
Sporting Clube de Goa 17 8 5 4 24 21 28
Shillong Lajong FC 18 6 5 7 25 29 25
Dempo SC 18 6 5 7 20 17 25
Mohun Bagan 19 4 6 9 17 17 21
United SC 17 4 5 8 18 20 20
East Bengal 14 5 4 5 19 14 20
Mumbai FC 18 3 5 10 20 23 19
Rangdajied United FC 18 4 8 6 21 29 18
Mohammedan Sporting 17 4 8 5 16 21 17
Churchill Brothers 17 3 8 6 15 24 15