Kashyap announces title ambition
in the city, on Tuesday. (ST)
SHILLONG: Royal Wahingdoh FC made it two wins on the trot when they beat Kingfisher East Bengal 1-0 in a rescheduled Round 9 Hero I-League match at the JN Stadium on Tuesday.
A 30th minute goal by Godwin Franco was enough for the hosts to keep the Red and Golds at bay.
Post the win, the Royals took the second spot temporarily but were pushed back to third after Bengaluru FC beat Sporting Clube de Goa to go No. 2 again.
The Royals, who beat Pune FC in their last home encounter, are currently at 20 points from 11 games while East Bengal continues to be in the sixth spot with 13 points.
Earlier, Godwin Franco scored his first goal in RWFC colours on the stroke of the half hour. It could have been a 2-0 win for the hosts but a Jackichand Singh goal towards the fag end of the first half was disallowed for offside.
However, post the first and only goal there was no looking back for the hosts who defended brilliantly towards the end of second half to see off a brief Ranti Martins onslaught towards the later stages of the match.
A delighted RWFC coach Santosh Kashyap said that his side was a serious title contender this season and praised his boys for delivering another stellar performance against the Kolkatans on Tuesday.
Earlier, the hosts got the first opportunity to go ahead as early as the fourth minute.
A racing Densill Theobald was fouled just outside the box and Lalmangaihsanga’s shot of the set piece missed the bar narrowly going over the top.
Later in the 12th minute Kim Yong had a chance to put the Royals ahead after being fed beautifully by Densill with a lofted cross. However, an advancing Subhashish Roy Chowdhury forced Kim to chip it over and the ball went just wide of the nets on the left.
This was also the East Bengal custodian’s last action in the match as he had to be stretchered off after a collision with Kim. Abhijit Mondal replaced him.
A corner on the half-hour mark finally paved way for the home side to go ahead. Assigned to take the kick-in, Jackichand Singh opted to pick out a lurking Godwin Franco outside the box. The latter let loose a right-footer to beat Mondal and give the hosts the lead.
Towards the end of the first half, Jackichand smashed one into the back of the net from inside the box but unfortunately for the Royals, he was given offside by the linesman.
Crossing over star striker Ranti Martins came out with a few brilliant moves at the front but the efforts were not enough to change the fate of the tie for the visitors who slumped to their second defeat in a row.
Prem Kumar Singh was especially brilliant in front of the nets.
The RWFC custodian made an excellent save to block an on-target Ranti Martins shot round about the 75th minute.
Surprisingly, the four-minute injury seemed to have dragged on longer than stipulated as the crowd got restless to hear the final whistle.
Finally it was a famous win for the hosts who now play Bengaluru FC in an away match on April 3.