I-League: Mohun Bagan beat Chennai City; Shillong Lajong get season's first win

Chennai/Shillong/Pune: Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan came from behind to beat Chennai City FC 2-1 to maintain pole position in Hero I-League on Saturday even as Shillong Lajong FC registered their first win of the season.

Haitian international Sony Norde's opportunistic strike in 77th minute helped Mohun Bagan beat Chennai in their fourth round encounter of the I-League football tournament in Chennai.

It was their first away match and Sanjoy Sen's boys did well to come back from a goal behind after Brazilian Marcos Tank's 52nd minute goal put the local team in lead.

However the joy was shortlived with India international Jeje Lalpekhlua tapped home from close range in the 56th minute.

Bagan now have 12 points from four games and along with Bengaluru FC are firm contenders for the I-League title as it has been the case for the last few seasons.

Chennai City coach Robin Charles Raja rung in five changes with Karanjit Singh, former Afganistan captain Amiri, Marcos Tank, Edwin and Raju Yumnum being given starts.

Mohun Bagan, on the other hand, made just the one change with with Bikramjit Singh starting the match.

While Karanjit pulled off two good saves off Darryl Duffy's attempts, he was splendid as he dived to his right in the 38th minute to save a spot-kick taken by Norde.

The penalty was awarded after stopper Joseph Clemente brought down Norde in the box. But Karanjit proved to be equal to his task.

In what was a blow for Chennai, captain D Ravanan was injured late in the first half, with former Mohun Bagan mideo Denson Devadas replacing him. The first half finished goalless.

The goal came against the run of play due to a defensive goof up by Brazilian stopper Eduardo as he lost the ball to the hulk like Tank, who muscled his way through the left and placed it neatly even though Debjit Majumdar was covering the near post.

But Mohun Bagan equalised within four minutes when Norde did well to trick Clemente and found Duffy inside the box. The Scotsman's shot was blocked but Jeje was on hand to volley home from close range.

The winner in the 77th minute was as much as Sony Norde's as it was Jeje's, who slipped in a sublime through pass with the Haitian sprinted past his marker and beat a surging Karanjit with a deft instep placement.

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In Shillong, local hero Rupert Nongrum and new Cameroonian striker Aser Dipanda Dicka scored a goal each as Lajong celebrated their return to the JN Stadium with a 2-1 victory over Minerva Punjab FC earlier in the day.

The first Hero I-League home match this season for the Reds also produced Lajong's first victory of 2016-17 and pushed the North East club to provisional seventh position in the points table.

Lajong started with as many as eight Under-22 players and only two foreigners - Dicka and Japanese midfielder Yuta Kinowaki - but came out of the dugout strongly as they looked to make the most of their home advantage.

From around the 10th minute the first half belonged to the Reds, who were cheered on by thousands of fans.

In the 17th minute, Rupert secured his place in the history books with his first I-League goal by demonstrating that he has a fine football mind despite his years. He was later rewarded for a fine performance over 90 minutes with the Hero of the Match award.

The midfielder met a well directed long ball with an outstretched right boot. Neatly collecting the ball, the youngster, who was totally unmarked, sped towards the edge of the opposition box and fired in a low strike that beat Minerva goalkeeper Arshdeep Singh.

A little miscommunication between Dicka and captain Nim Dorjee Tamang saw Lajong miss a good chance to double the lead just five minutes later, but that really did not make much difference as the Reds continued to pile on the pressure, motivated by the cheers of the Lajong Faithfuls.

A few minutes either side of the 30-minute mark Dicka had two headers just miss the mark, but he made good on this promising display to convert a chance 10 minutes later.

Although the striker could not get to a long ball, Minerva's defender Loveday Okechukwu failed to clear the ball after a bad bounce and the resulting skewed kick fell nicely into place for Dicka to walk the ball into the net with the goalkeeper out of position.

The Punjab-based team's coach made a couple of attacking substitutions at the start of the second half and Minerva saw much more of the ball, though Lajong faced up to the pressure and held off the marauding opposition.

With full time in sight, Okechukwu made up for his first half mistake by firing in a scorcher of a ball that Lajong custodian Vishal Kaith could do nothing about to reduce the margin to just one goal. Incidentally, this was the first goal for Minerva in the I-League.

Fellow foreign team mate Ivan Filatov then got another chance to score for his team, but his attempt from within the box was neatly gathered by Vishal, who had to dive to his right.

With referee Raktim Saha soon blowing the whistle, Lajong could celebrate a much deserved victory and they will go into their next game, against Mumbai FC on January 28, with renewed confidence.

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In another fixture today, Churchill Brothers finally got some figure on the points table with a 1-1 draw against DSK Shivajians in Pune.

Korean forward Kim Song Yong provided the lead to the Shivajians in the 21st minute but Adil Ahmed Khan restored parity four minutes from closing time.

Shivajians made no changes to the squad which won 2-0 against Chennai City FC at home last time whereas Alfred Fernandes made a couple of changes from a 0-2 loss at home to East Bengal in the last game week.

Churchill Brothers brought two midfield players in, Kyrgyzstan's Bektur Talgat Uulu and Under-22 player Chesterpoul Lyngdoh; as both sides played with a 4-4-2 formation.

The two teams enjoyed a hatful of good chances in the opening minutes as the match presented an end-to-end display of open attacking football. But Shivajians and Churchill failed to make their opportunities count, in front of goal -- as a desperate surge for the opener grew.

The goal came much to the delight of Shivajians as Churchill's left-back was caught napping when Kim's sharpness helped him arrive from the blind-side of the defender as he put the ball at the back of the net.

Shivajians creating plenty of chances, in the early stages of the second half. The hosts found acres of space to operate between the Churchill midfield and defence, as the second-half substitute, Sanju Pradhan's long-range effort nearly brought a second goal.

Manager David Rogers introduced fresh legs post the hour mark, Gouramangi Singh replaced McFauln in defence. Halicharan Narzary was introduced for Lallianzuala Chhangte 10 minutes later, as DSK Shivajians looked for an important second goal.

As the match entered its final 15 minutes, Churchill Brothers were presented with a golden opportunity to equalise from the spot.

In the aftermath of the foul committed by Sanju Pradhan inside the box, referee Pranjal Banerjee gave the visitors a chance to make it 1-1.

But the experienced Anthony Wolfe was denied from the spot by Shivajians goalkeeper Soram Anganba, who stretched towards the right to deny the Trinidad and Tobago international to score.

Visitors introduced their last substitute in Surchandra Singh in the 85th minute, whose first vital contribution was to win a corner which brought about the equaliser. Adil managed to nod home to give the Goan outfit much needed breathing space.