SHILLONG: Babatunde Ayomide’s hat-trick took Rangdajied United FC’s hope of making it to the I-League next season a step closer even as their victory meant that Langsning FC are out of the running for a spot in the top tier.
Rangdajied hammered bottom-placed Southern Samity 3-1 in their second last match of the second leg of the 2nd Division I-League at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Wednesday evening.
With this win Rangdajied have collected 16 points from nine outings and will play against table toppers Mohammedan Sporting on Saturday.
Thursday is important for RUFC, as third-placed Bhawanipore FC (13 points) are to play Mohammedan.
Langsning also won 3-1, over Mumbai Tigers, having come from a goal down.
Rangdajied played a tight match and opened their account in the 16th minute of the game when Babatunde headed home a cross ball from skipper Restom Khriam from the left flank into the goal.
In the 26th minute S Heman Singh equalised, giving life to the match.
In the 40th minute Thomas Saikhom crossed the ball which beat Rangdajied Korean recruit Shin Hojun, but Nigerian striker Babatunde headed home for a 2-1 lead.
Changing over, the ball was mostly in the midfield.
In the 83rd minute the referee awarded a spot kick in favour of the Shillong side after he caught Imran Khan bringing down Shin, who was immediately subsituted for Loveday Okechukwu.
Taking the shot, Babatandue made no mistake to score his hat trick.
In the 89th minute the Kolkata side were reduced to 10 men after Shyam Mondal was given marching orders for punching E Abocha Singh.
Earlier, in the afternoon match, Langsning came from behind to snatch full points to beat Mumbai Tigers 3-1.
With this win Langsning have 12 points from nine matches, but they needed Rangdajied to lose their match in order to stay in contention.
In the 31st minute Mumbai moved ahead when the unmarked Durga Boro tapped home skipper Paresh Shialkar’s cross.
Changing over, Daniel Bidemi, in the 68th minute, equalised when he conver-ted AK Kynta’s cross.
Langsning earned the lead in the 73rd minute of the game through an own goal of Nawab Zeeshan Rahaman.
Langsning completed the tally in the 85th minute of the game when Marlangki Suting’s shot from the 30-yard area found the net.