By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 10: Defending champions Shillong Lajong FC demolished Ryntih SC 5-0 in their Shillong Premier League match on Wednesday, with the young Reds pulling off a stunning turnaround at the MFA Turf, Polo Grounds.
The result turned out to be sweet revenge for Lajong after Ryntih had blanked them 3-0 in their first leg fixture on 6 July.
Lajong’s goals were scored by Everbrightson S Mylliempdah (8’, 80’), Gladdy Kharbuli (16’, 48’) and Samuel Vanlalpeka (59’). In fact, the five goals exceeded the four that Lajong managed in their previous eight outings combined.
Before today, Lajong were sixth with 8 points and Ryntih fourth with 14. The win takes SLFC to fifth now, above Nangkiew Irat by 11 points to 9, though the latter have a game in hand. For Ryntih, this was their second defeat by the same massive margin, having lost to Mawlai SC on 14 July 5-0 too.
Lajong did demonstrate a marked improvement all-round, though Ryntih were slightly hamstrung as many of their players have either been loaned out to other clubs in the country or are in the process of undergoing trials for these clubs.
That being said, nothing can be taken away from the youngsters at Lajong, who have now gone three matches unbeaten with as many clean sheets.
Mylliempdah book-ended the match with his brace, first negotiating a high ball and chipping it over the oncoming Ryntih goalkeeper Eric Nongkhlaw in only the eighth minute. At the tail end of the match, he accepted a through ball and slotted it low past the custodian.
Ryntih’s defence was all over the place and a poor back pass in the 16th minute gave Lajong their second goal. Mylliempdah got to the ball just before it went out of play and his touch from an extremely tight angle clipped the upright and stayed in play. Kharbuli was ready for the rebound and smashed it in.
That was it for the first half but Lajong continued scoring in the second.
In the 48th minute an appeal for a foul was turned down by the referee but the slight pause saw Ryntih relax and that opened up a chance for Kharbuli to take the ball into the box and drill it into the net to make it 3-0.
Ryntih then conceded a penalty for a foul by Nongkhlaw on Vanlalpeka, who took the spot kick himself. The keeper blocked the attempt but sent the ball back to Vanlalpeka, who made no mistake the second time around.
A Ryntih side that appeared to get increasingly frustrated and then almost despondent as the game went from bad to worse had a few chances of their own. First half stoppage time saw them earn a free-kick, which Lajong goalie Wanteilang Malngiang spilled but the Ryntih players could not capitalise.
With the team already 4-0 down, Sheen Sohktung was fouled and there was a chance to reduce the margin somewhat with a penalty of their own. In a similar turn of events to Lajong’s penalty at the other end of the pitch, Malngiang saved the spot kick but this time Sohktung made a complete mess of the rebound and sent it wide.
On Thursday, bottom side Mawkhar SC (2 points) will take on second-placed Langsning FC (17). Langsning had beaten Mawkhar 3-1 in the final match of the first leg on July 27.