I-League 2018-19: East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan – Hits and Flops of the match

#1 Hit: Laldanmawia Ralte (East Bengal)

Danmawai scored a brace

All of the talks before the Derby were based on some particular players, mainly Sony Norde, Enrique Esqueda and even for Jaime Santos, who was going to make his debut.

On the contrary, no words were written on Laldanmawia Ralte, having scored two goals in two years against Mohun Bagan, the last of which came in September in Calcutta Football League. There were discussions on the local media about Azharuddin Mullick, who scored only one of his goals in this fixture some two years ago.

Danmawia, as he is famously called, was nursing an injury in the start of the season and missed five matches in I-League. But he immediately made an impact on his return by scoring against Gokulam in their last match.

However, he produced perhaps the best performance of his career against Mohun Bagan. Both the goals were brilliant. The first came in the 18th minute when he was played a beautiful ball by Justin. The Aizawl-born was standing in the gap between Kingsley and Lalchawnkima. He took a swift first touch and turned around quickly to beat Sankar Roy.

The second one came in a crucial moment and turned out to be the winning goal. From a free-kick off Lalrindika Ralte, Laldanmawia rose above everyone and made a bullet header which was initially saved by Sankar. But even before the ball could touch the ground, Laldanmawia scored from the rebound.

This brace takes his goal tally to three and suddenly made him a hero among supporters overnight, which was long due.