BANGALORE, APR 15: Rangdajied United FC and Langsing FC, the two teams from Shillong, had mixed fortunes on the opening day of the second and final leg of the 2nd division I-League at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Monday. While Rangdajied beat Bhawanipore 1-0, Langsning came from behind to hold Mohammedan Sporting 1-1.
A sterling performance by defender Amblistar Sunn helped Rangdajied pip Bhawanipore. Sunn foiled two attempts at goal by Bhawanipore’s veteran Brazilian striker J. Marco Barreto, one of which a goal line save, as the Shillong outfit guarded their first half goal till the very end. With this win, Rangdajied strengthened their position and now have seven points from six matches.
Rangdajied took the lead in the 42nd minute of the game when Babatunde Ayomide neatly headed home Nagen Tamang’s well measured cross from the right flank.
In the second, the Shillong team missed as many as six open chances. The closest they came to increasing the lead was when in the 60th minute skipper Resttom Khriam carried the ball from central line to the rival’s
goal area and sent a beautiful crossed to Babatunde who failed to connect with only the goalkeeper to beat.
The other golden opportunity that went for a was in the 80th minute of the game when Babatunde set up a ball for Jeribe Kelechi who only needed to control the ball and shoot past the goalkeeper, but failed to trap the ball.
The match though belonged to the Rangdajied with Sunn doing the start turn. In the 67th minute, Barreto took a powerful shot which was cleared by an alert Amblistar Sunn. Hudson Lima Silva’s shot from the resultant rebound was again saved by custodian Shambhu Mistry.
In the 76th minute, Barreto took another shot at the goal that beat Mistry, but again Amblistar came to the rescue of his team by clearing the ball inches from entering the goal.
In the second match of the day, another Shillong outfit Langsning FC came from behind to hold table toppers Mohammedan Sporting Club 1-1. With this draw, Langsning have eight points while Mohammedan remain at the top with eleven points.
Langsning were better in ball possession, but missed chances galore in front of the goalpost. In the 10th minute of the game, R Vanlalnun Dunga’s powerful shot from about 24 yards arena was saved well by the rival custodian Arnab Das Sharma. Against the run of play, Mohammedan went into the lead in the 30th minute when Noushad K set the ball nicely for his Japanese colleague Wi Hyojun who made no mistake, heading the ball home.
Changing over, the boys from the hills made repeated forays into the rival citadel, but faltered in front of the goal mouth. However, in 59th minute Joel Sunday Ayeni dribbled pass three defenders and scored the equalizer to the relief of Langsning.
Had Langsning been able to beat Mohammedan today, they would have jointly headed the points table with the Kolkata side. Langsning will take on Bhawanipore on Thursday evening while Rangdajied will clash against Mumbai Tigers on Friday. -By Suraj Joshi
Nice report Josh