Shillong: Shillong Lajong FC will play their third consecutive away match against Churchill Brothers on Thursday at the Tilak Maidan in Goa.
The match will broadcast live on Star Sports 3, Hotstar and JioTV from 5 pm.
It wasn’t the best starts for Lajong to their I-League away games as they lost their last two matches against Indian Arrows in Cuttack and Gokulam Kerala in Kozhikode.
Churchill Brothers, on the other hand, drew their last three away matches against Minerva Punjab (0-0), Chennai (2-2) and Real Kashmir (0-0).
The Goan outfit collected three points from these encounters and travelled back home to prepare for their first home game of the season against Shillong Lajong.
Speaking on the eve of the match, Lajong coach Alison Kharsyntiew said, “The last two days were all about the recovery session so that the players will be fresh for the match against Churchill on Thursday.”
Israil Gurung and Nenad Novakovic have found the net for Churchill Brothers while Mahesh Singh, Rakesh Pradhan and Phrangki Buam netted goals for Lajong so far in the I-League 2018/19 season.
Churchill Brothers were reinstated into the I-League this season and since then they have made a couple of good domestic and foreign signings to strengthen their squad.
During their pre-season, they played in the Goa Pro League and appointed Petre Gigiu from Romania as their head coach.
Coach Kharsyntiew is aware of the threat the Churchill side poses and said, “Churchill Brothers is a very strong team and to play against them in Goa is not easy.”
“We have to give our best and we want our players to play good football and get three points from the match. We need to be more sharp and clinical in the final third”, Kharsyntiew concluded.
Churchill will be seeking their first win, after creditably remaining unbeaten on the road so far in three games and against some top sides.
Churchill also lead the head to head stats 6-3 with three other games ending in draws. However, in the last two I-League editions Lajong have won two of the four games with one ending in a draw.
The homeside’s Romanian coach will be a relieved man after a 10-man Churchill managed to come away with a point from cold Kashmir following a goalless draw.
But his major worry will also be the fact that his is the only side to have played two goalless draws in the league. His striking mainstays, Dawda Ceesay and Willis Deon Plaza have obviously not fired and they have made up for a lack of goals through sheer grit.
Gigiu was in a jovial mood on match day eve saying, “I am happy because we didn’t lose but also not happy because we could have won a minimum of two of those games.”
