By Nabarun Goswami
SHILLONG: In what can be termed an incredible real life Cinderella story, Aizawl FC became the first side from the Northeast to lift the I-League trophy at the JN Stadium here on Sunday.
The Mizoram side held hosts Shillong Lajong to a 1-1 draw in a fascinating encounter to win the title by virtue of being the side with the highest points. India’s oldest football club, Mohun Bagan finished a close second after beating Chennai City 2-1 in Kolkata.
The champions, who were only playing their second I-League, rallied to hold Lajong after they were down by a goal within 10 minutes of the epic clash.
Ace striker Dipanda Dicka gave Lajong the breakthrough in the 9th minute but his effort was cancelled out by super sub William Lalnunfela who arguably netted the most important goal of the season for his side in the 67th minute. Dicka almost changed the course of history with his 90 +1 minute left footer which hit the upright before going out of play. An inch to the right and Aizawl would have been robbed of all the accolades.
In the end it was glory to Aizawl who were relegated last season only to be brought back into the league later on.
It was a real success story of a small-town club nobody would have bet on at the beginning of the season to conquer the coveted I-League title.
The victory was well received by the close to 24,000 spectators who had thronged the JN Stadium to witness history.
Among the crowd was a sizeable 5000 or more Aizawl fans who cheered their side all along.
Lajong, meanwhile, finished fifth in the tally, their best in I-League with 26 points from 18 matches. The Reds, who were NE’s torchbearers in the national football scene, can draw inspiration from the fact that their best finish in the I-League came from the youngest side in the league.
Earlier, Lajong threatened to spoil the Aizawl party by striking in the 9th minute through none other than Dipanda Dicka who is the I-League top-scorer this season. The Cameroonian striker rendered the Aizawl fans lifeless with his close range header that struck the cross bar as the ball went down and tripped over the line for a goal.
Five minutes later Vishal Kaith made a brilliant save to deny Aizawl.
In the 23rd minute Dicka was brought down just outside the box and Issac almost converted of the resulting free kick if not for a desperate save by rival custodian Albino Gomes.
Mahmoud Al Amna missed an opportunity to restore parity for Aizawl at the half-hour mark when his scorcher of a shot when just over the bar.
Aizawl’s misfortune hit its peak when in the 36th minute a back-heeled shot from Bayi Stephane back-heeled was miraculously cleared by Redeem Tlang at goal line while custodian Vishal was rooted to the ground and could not muster a reflex.
Crossing over Aizawl stepped up the attack and Jayesh Rane was guilty of missing out twice in the 55th minute hitting the ball over the post on both occasions.
At the stroke of the hour substitute William Lalnunfela headed one into the nets but it was soon called off side.
Aizawl finally struck in the 67th minute when Lalnunfela slammed the ball in of a rebound from the left post. Vishal had advanced and in the process was caught out of position.
Just when it looked like Aizawl were going to walk away with the title Dicka burst into the scene like a villain to the thousands cheering the Mizoram side.
Lajong’s go-to man this season could only hit the crossbar at stoppage time (92 min) much to the relief of Aizawl.
A minute later Dicka headed one down for Yuta Kinowaki, but the latter was just a little too far away from the ball to get a touch onto it.By then it was evident that the day belonged to Aizawl.
A fascinating encounter had come to an end and history was scripted at the JN Stadium Shillong.