I-League: Confident Rangdajied United take on East Bengal Club

It was a historic day for Rangdajied United FC last Sunday, as the Blues from Shillong registered their first-ever win in the I-League beating Mohun Bagan AC 2-0 at the Saltlake Stadium. With those three points helping Rangdajied United moved off the bottom of the table, they will now shift their attention to their home clash against title favorites East Bengal Club tomorrow.

The Blues have had a string of positive results in the last few weeks, picking up six points from the last four games, with three draws and a win. The win over Mohun Bagan was certainly a morale boaster for the Rangdajied players and the Blues will hope to pick-up their first home I-League win when they take on Kolkata giants East Bengal, this coming Saturday.

Subrata Pal was the star performer during Rangdajied United’s 2-0 win over Mohun Bagan last Sunday. The India international made some crucial saves to deny the hosts a chance of coming out of the game with at least a point. With East Bengal boasting of one of the strongest frontlines in the I-League, Subrata will again need to be in top-form to keep out the Red-and-Golds.

Gouramangi Singh, Lamine Tamba, Thomas Saikhom, Pratik Chowdhary, Bhola Prasad and Munmun Lugun are all fit, and will hope to be part of Santosh Kashyap’s backline against East Bengal. The back four’s performance against the visitors’ formidable attack promises to have a crucial say on the final score.

In midfield, Yohei Iwasaki, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Tomba Singh, Bansharai Sun, Restomwell Khriam, Joychandra Singh and K.C. David Nghaite are all available; and against the Kolkata giants, Santosh Kashyap will be hoping for another top performance from his midfielders.

New signings Kim-Song Yong and Manandeep Singh should start upfront for the Blues, although Rangdajied United are not short of options upfront, with Lalnunpuia, Edmar, Joy Kharraswai and Sandesh Gadkari all hoping to feature in the game at some point of time.

With East Bengal looking to get their title challenge back on track under new coach Armando Colaco, and Rangdajied United hope to build on their win against Mohun Bagan, it will be interesting to see how things unfold when the two sides clash against each other at the Polo Ground in Shillong on Saturday. The mood in the Rangdajied camp has been highly positive in recent weeks, and Santosh Kashyap will try to make sure that his boys take advantage of this rich vein of form and pick up a positive result against the visitors.