By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Royal Wahingdoh FC thrashed Quartz FC 6-2 while Ar-Hima squandered a 3-0 lead to draw against Bhawanipore FC in the preliminary round matches of the 2nd Division I-League on Tuesday.
In the the match played at Cuttack, five first half goals by Wahigndoh took the game away from their opponents. The Royals dominated the proceedings from the word go and drew first blood as early as the seventh minute when its central defender Perry S Kolie struck powerfully from about 30 yards to see the ball pass the Quartz FC custodian.
Nine minutes later Wahingdoh increased the lead through a goal scored by Bekay and to make things worse for Quartz, star striker Mala scored a stunner in the 21st minute to give the Royals a 3-0 lead.
In the 37th minute, Kolie scored his second goal of the match to make it Wahingdoh’s fourth and six minutes before the break, striker Chencho netted one to virtually seal the match for Wahingdoh.
Crossing over, the Shillong side maintained the tempo and Tensing carried forward the Wahingdoh scoring spree with another goal in the 85th minute to make it 6-0. Quartz managed to net two consolation goals towards the dying minutes of the match only to end up losing 2-6. With this win, Wahing doh have seven points from three matches.
Meanwhile, it was a disappointing show in the end for Ar-Hima who were held 3-3 by Bhawanipore FC in the match played at Silchar.
Leading by 3-0 in the first half, Ar-Hima surrendered the advantage in the second to share points with its rivals. Paiki Matsumura , Ar-Hima’s newly signed Japanese striker took the team into the lead in the 18th minute.
Star striker Babatunde Badmus doubled the lead for Ar-Hima in the 32nd minute. To the add to the misery of Bhawanipore, Ar-Hima’s Nigerian striker Kelechi Okeye took the lead to 3-0 just before the lemon break in the 45th minute.
Bhawanipore came out strongly in the second half to overcome the lead and stage a famous draw.
With this, Ar-Hima now have four points from two matches.
