Shillong : Shillong Premier League defending champions, Shillong Lajong FC will return to action in Meghalaya’s top football competition on 7th August as they take on MLP Football Team at the JN Stadium Shillong at 3:45PM.
Shillong Lajong met Rangdajied in the finals last year and won the championship by 3-2 with goals from Alen Deory and a brace from Lalrammuana.
MLP Football Team finished 5th last season with 18 points. They scored 27 goals in total but conceded 21. While, Shillong Lajong dominated the league stage and were at the top of table with 33 points, scoring the same amount of goals just like MLP, which was also the highest number of goals scored by any team in the league last season and the Reds conceded 10 goals.
Shillong Lajong did a double over MLP last season winning the first as well as the second leg by the score line 1-0 and 4-2 respectively.
The reigning champions this season will heavily rely on their younger players, having sold many experienced players to ISL Teams. Nevertheless, the group of young talented players have been hard at work during the pre-season are confident to start the new season campaign on a positive note.
Shillong Lajong Youth Coach and I-League assistant coach Alison Kharsyntiew who took the team to Shillong Premier League Glory in 2014 will be the coach in charge for the new season.
Speaking to Alison ahead of the opening game, he said, “The preparation for the new season has been good and the current team is a mixture of senior as well as junior players. They are ready for the challenge.”
“Our first game versus MLP on Monday is very important. We should win the match and get three points as that will build up the confidence for the team. We are expecting a good result and a good performance individually and collectively from the team.”