Lajong’s foreign recruit Koffi (80′) scored the only goal of the match at the JLN Stadium. (Source: I-League Twitter)
Shillong Lajong FC registered their first win of the year as they beat Indian Arrows 1-0 and moved up a place in the I-League in Shillong on Monday.
Lajong’s foreign recruit Koffi (80′) scored the only goal of the match at the JLN Stadium.
Both teams started in the 4-2-3-1 formation with each team trying to get the upper hand over the other. Arrows coach handed Roshan Singh his first start in Hero I-League 2017-18 and Deepak Tangri combined with Asish Rai in the defence while Anwar Ali, Sanjeev Stalin, Boris Singh were rested along with Jeakson Singh at the midfield.
Shillong Lajong were taking a more direct and aggressive approach as they had the Arrows on the backfoot.
The first half of the match was dominated by Lajong as they kept attacking the Arrows defence. It looked like the Matos led side were not the same team they had been when they
played Lajong in their previous encounter.
Meanwhile, the moment of glory came for the young goalie Prabhsukhan Gill when he jumped to his left to save skipper Samuel Lalmuanpuia’s spot-kick.
Deepak Tangri, following a tackle on Koffi, handled the ball inside the box and the referee didn’t hesitate to award a penalty kick to the hosts but the skipper’s right-footed shot
was comfortably saved by the goalie.
Lajong created many chances to score during the first half of the match but none were successful in finding the net.
Arrows goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Singh Gill also proved that he was a force to be reckoned with as he made some impressive saves for his team.
The second half started off with a substitution from the Arrows side. P. Robello filled in for Abhijit Sarkar in the 46th minute. Lajong also made some changes of its own by replacing Rakesh Pradhan with Allen Lyngdoh in the 56th minute.
Aiman gave away a golden chance to put Lajong in the lead in the 57th minute as Asish Rai messed up his clearance.
Arrows tried their best to spread out over the field and up their game but the Lajong players were intercepting their passes well and maintained the intensity of their attack.
After an onslaught of attacks on Arrows, Lajong’s winning goal finally came in the 80th minute when forward Abdoulaye Koffi raced into the box, past the outstretched Jitendra and delivered a wonderful shot into the roof of the net.