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Rangdajied United FC finally shrugged off their winless lag after defeating Kolkata giants, Mohun Bagan AC 2-0 in a 12th Round of the I-League at the Saltlake Stadium in Kolkata on Sunday afternoon.
Manandeep Singh gave ‘The Blues’ a lead against the run-of-play in the 22nd minute before Eugeneson Lyngdoh scored the second in the 66th minute to ensure a historic first-ever I-League win for the Shillong club.
Coming into the game with back-to-back draws after strengthening their squad, the Meghalaya side were confident of upsetting the Mariners as coach Santosh Kashyap made some surprising changes. He dropped youngster K.C. David Ngaihte and Joychandra Singh, perhaps in a calculated move to master a sweet revenge against the club that sacked him mid-way last season.
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The host were the first to get a scoring chance when Subrata Pal failed to clear a back pass that fell on Odafe Onyeka Okolie’s feet at the edge of the box. Odafe passed the ball to Eric Muranda and luckily for Rangdajied United, the Kenyan was slow on his turn and the visitors survived.
The hosts however continued to press hard, Katsumi Yusa being the architect of those attacks. But soon, Rangdajied United players settled down and in no time silenced the Mariners in the stands. It was Manandeep Singh again, who broke the deadlock when Yohei Iwasaki dribbled passed two defenders and found the former East Bengal striker inside the 6-yard box, who coolly slotted the ball home.
Mohun Bagan, having conceded came all guns blazing, seeking for the equaliser with captain Odafe taking most of the burden on himself. But time and again, Subrata Pal came to the rescue of his side and took them into the break with the lead intact.
Change of ends saw Rangdajied United having the first look at goal. Manandeep took a sharp turn and unleashed a screamer which went straight into Sandip Nandy‘s hands. Thereafter the green-and-maroons made few inroads, but none was dangerous enough to trouble the defence or the keeper before Tomba Singh came up with another brilliant header, forcing Sandip Nandy to stretch full-length to keep the ball out.
Around the hour mark, Odafe failed to restore parity on two occasions. In a one-to-one situation with Subrata Pal, the Spiderman dived brilliantly to snatched the ball before he failed to score into an open net on the second occasion.
But it was Rangdajied United who in the 66th minute scored once more when skipper Eugeneson Lyngdoh stunned the Kolkata side. Kim Song Yong brilliantly built-up from the right and passed it on to Manandeep, whose back heal found Eugene unmarked inside the six yard box. The Rangdajied No. 10 had to just tapped the ball in.
Mohun Bagan initiated few more attacks after the second goal and Odafe forced the former Mariner keeper to come up with a few brilliant saves that earned him the Man of the Match award.
With this win, Rangdajied United accumulated eight points from 11 outings and are now placed 12th in the standing, while Mohun Bagan stay 10th with 11 points from 11 matches.
Rangdajied United FC will now return home and host East Bengal Club on Saturday, December 7 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong.
