I-league: Buoyant Bagan up against shaky Lajong
KOLKATA: Mohun Bagan will look to continue their winning run and jump to top half of the points table when they face bottomplaced Shillong Lajong FC in an I-league fixture here on Sunday.
The Mariners showed amazing resilience to overcome the derby defeat to arch rivals East Bengal, downing defending champions Minerva Punjab in their previous match.
The win took them to sixth on the table with 12 points from eight games, while the Shillong outfit are yet to win from five matches.
In their last fixture, Lajong suffered a 1-6 humiliation against debutants Real Kashmir in Srinagar as they slipped to bottom of the table with four points from eight matches.
The Alison Kharsyntiewcoached Lajong have the league’s most profligate defence, having leaked 22 goals. The inexperience of his young home-grown side is probably showing the most.
Aibanbha Kupar has been the bulwark of the Lajong back four but the likes of Kharshong, Novin Gurung and Khongsit clearly need to step it up more.
“Our defence was not up to the mark and we need to really work hard on our defense. We will go back and look rectify the loopholes as we can’t afford to continue to be same anymore,” the coach has said after the debacle in Srinagar.
Their captain and playmaker Samuel Lalmuanpuia has a very talented attack line to play with and he would look up to the talented Phrangki Buam, who has scored thrice so far.
Mohun Bagan, on the other hand, will be on a high after their win over Minerva but they will still miss the services of their star Haitian playmaker Sony Norde.
Mohun Bagan ran havoc in midfield and pinned Minerva against the wall in their last match.
Instead of going with two strikers upfront, Henry Kisekka was deployed on the left flank whereas Omar Nabil Elhusseiny was restored to his familiar position of an attacking midfielder.
Summingupthemood,mohun Bagan coach Sankarlal Chakraborty said: “Winning the next match after the derby has morally boosted us. Now, we are trying to maintain the winning momentum. We want three points to be in a good position. We have not won a single match at our home ground.
“This is one of our disadvantages. Luck was not in our favour when we played the other games. We hope to turn that around,” the Bagan coach said.
NEROCA FAVOURITES
IMPHAL: On a roll after three wins on the trot, a confident Neroca FC would start as favourites when they take on defending champions Minerva Punjab in their I-league football clash here on Sunday.
After a stuttering start in their I-league campaign, Neroca bounced back into the reckoning with three wins in their last three matches -- two at home and one away -- to occupy the third spot with 14 points from eight matches.
A win on Sunday will consolidate Neroca’s position at the top three and keep them in the hunt for the title as the I-league nears halfway stage.
Minerva, on the other hand, sufferred a loss at home against Mohun Bagan in their previous game and their goal scoring woes still refused to go away. The Punjab side are currently at seventh spot with 12 points from nine games.
While Neroca look a rejuvenated side since the return from injury of Japanese talisman Katsumi Yusa, Minerva’s Irish coach Paul Munster is yet to find a right combination for the season.
Neroca’s Spanish coach Manuel Fraile has made some key decisions along the way, two of them being ensuring that the experienced Singham Subhash Singh and Lalit Thapa are back in the mix. With the inspirational Yusa coming back, Nigerian striker Felix Chidi also seemed to have got back his goal scoring touch.”