Lajong win opening game at Aizawl

Shillong: Lajong registered a 2-1 win over Bethlehem VT FC in their first of the Independence Day Celebration Invitation Football Tournament held at A R Ground in Aizawl on Friday.
The goals for the Reds came from Bipin Singh in the 24th minute and Milan Basumatary in the 59th minute. While Risanga, who scored in the 85th minute was the lone scorer for the home side.
Lajong came with a strong line up consisting of namely, Nim Dorjee, Sandeep Singh, Pritam Kumar, Joe, Jacob, Joseph, Redeem Tlang, Bipin Singh, Milan Basumatary, Samuel Lalmuanpuia and Phurba (GK).
Bipin Singh who played his first game of the new season after a one and a half month break, scored the first goal of the match in the 24th minute.
The Reds were also defending well and denied their opponents any chance to equalise. But unfortunately, a mistake by the Lajong goalkeeper saw the team reduced to 10 men. Phurba handled the ball outside the box and the referee gave him a red card for his mistake. Hence, young goalkeeper from Nagaland, Nethovile, came on, in place of Redeem Tlang.
However, the red card incident didn’t de-motivate the boys and they kept on pressuring their opponents in front of goal. They continued to work hard and were finally paid off when Milan Basumatary made a good run to receive a long ball and netted the ball in the 59th minute.
In the final stages of the match, Risanga helped Bethlehem FC reduce the deficit by scoring in the 85th minute. The match ended 2-1 in favour of Lajong.
This is the second consecutive loss for Betlehem VT FC. Meanwhile, Shillong Lajong FC will play their next game against Ramhlun North FC on August 2 at 2pm.