SHILLONG: Defending Champions Minerva Punjab and Shillong Lajong FC played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in an exciting I-League encounter here Friday.
Youngsters Phrangki Buam and Allen Lyngdoh found the back of the net for the home side in the first half whereas William Opoku and Philip Njoku scored for Minerva.
Coach Alison made 5 changes in the starting line-up as Kenstar made his comeback of the injury and Novin Gurung made his return after serving the suspension. The Reds didn’t have good start to the game as it was all the visitors with the ball in the initial minutes of the game and goalkeeper Neitho had to be alert to keep away the danger a couple of times. In the 18th minute, Lajong had their first chance of a great build-up but Samuela’s through ball had a bit more power and the opposition goalkeeper had to make a simple save to keep the danger away.
In the 23rd minute of the match, defender Kenstar Kharsong got into the referee’s book while defending a set piece and just from that set piece Lajong got themselves a chance on the other end. Minerva’s defender tried a pass back to his goalkeeper which fell short and young Phrangki Buam was all alert to take control of the situation and curl it past the goalkeeper to score his second goal of this season.
Minerva then again tried to dictate the tempo of the game with crosses flowing in from both the flanks but the trio of Aiban, Nabin and Kenstar were on their toes to clear away every threat to Neitho’s goal. Minerva were looking for an equaliser putting bodies up front which led to Lajong’s second goal of the match.
It was 43rd minute on the clock, when left back Allen Lyngdoh took the ball off the Minerva attacker and passed it on to Samuel Kynshi having just a defender ahead of him fed Allen back with only the keeper to beat and the defender made no mistake to double Lajong’s lead.
The referee added on 2 extra minutes at the end of first half and right at the end of first half an error from goalkeeper Neitho left William Opoku with an open net to score and he put the ball into the back of the net after getting a deflection to bring down the deficit to one. At the end of first half, The Reds were leading 2-1.
As the second half began, Minerva Punjab got done with all their three substitutions but in the process, they fielded 6 foreigners and as a result had to take out the extra foreigner which led them to play with 10 men. Lajong had their first chance of the half from a free-kick but Samuela’s delivery was cleared out wide by the Minerva defence. Moments later, Samuela tried his luck from distance only to see his shot being saved by the goalkeeper.
Samuela in the following minutes had a couple more chances, but he failed to put his shot on target and the team were not managing to double their lead. Alllen Lyngdoh was then replaced by Rakesh Pradhan who minutes after coming on had a chance up front, but his cross wasn’t met by anyone inside the box. Minerva Punjab equalised at the 73rd minute against the run of play through Philip Njoku who put his volley past Neitho to make the score-line 2-2.
Coach Alison then made his two remaining substitutions by bringing in forwards Sheen and Mahesh, but The Reds failed to put any real threat in Minerva’s goal. In the first minute of the additional 5 minutes, Phrangki found himself with a chance up front but his final touch let him down and he failed to give his team the lead. The remaining minutes of the match didn’t see much of action and as the referee blew his whistle the game ended 2-2.
Shillong Lajong will now host Neroca FC on 2nd of December at 5PM for the 3rd North East derby of the season.
