NEW DELHI: Indian Arrows players found their lost mojo back as they outscored 10-man Shillong Lajong 3-0 to register their second victory of the season in the 11th edition of the I-League at the Ambedkar Stadium on Tuesday. It is a moral-boosting win for Arrows ahead of their all-important tie against Mohun Bagan on December 29.

Arrows, who had suffered three defeats prior to this match, won their opening match against Chennayin FC with the same scoreline.

Hero of the match Jitendra Singh (19′), Nongdamba Naorem (86′) and Rahul Balan (90+’) scored for the home side.

The goal of the match and undoubtedly the goal of the season so far came through the foot of Naorem who cut in form the left and dodged past six Lajong players including the whole defence line to unleash a stunning right footer, beating visiting side goalkeeper Lachenpa all ends up.

It was nothing new for Naorem, who came into the field in place of Abhijit Sarkar hardly 11 minutes back, as he did exactly the same against USA in the group stage match of the FIFA U-17 World Cup but couldn’t score at that time.

Young Arrows players did the early running as expected and they were extremely motivated and eager in their quest for victory. And for the first 12 minutes, no single player from Lajong side entered the Arrows box.

The first real chance came for Arrows in the 13th minute when Sarkar got a nice cross from the right flank but he missed a sitter in his attempt to connect a volley. Lajong’s Abdoulaye Koffi missed a half chance a minute later when he was one-on-one with Arrows goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh but the alert goalie showed his glimpses of U-17 World Cup show to deny the goal.

The moment of glory came for the home team in the 19th minute when hardworking defender Jitendra, who was running up and down, got a nice ball inside the box from Rahim Ali and he kept his cool to strike past Lajong custodian Lachenpa to give 1-0 lead to his team. It was a fine move created by Sanjeev Stalin from the left as he fed the ball just outside the D to Rahim, who passed it over to Jitendra to do the rest.

The Arrows players were dominating the game right from the onset and their ball possession was almost 80% in comparison to Lajong. The visiting team players were little rough out of frustration for not keeping the ball and things got heated up a little in the middle when home team captain Amarjit Kiyam and Lajong’s Laurence Doe got into an argument alongwith Suresh Singh but eventually both the Arrows players got the bookings by the referee in the 28th minute.

Lajong pressed hard for the equaliser and got a chance at the stroke of lemon break when Hardy Cliff sent a fine cross from the right but a feeble header from striker Koffi went straight into the hands of Dheeraj and Arrows went into the half-time with a 1-0 lead.

After changing ends, Lajong looked a different side altogether as they were making more moves in search of a leveler while Arrows tactically slowed down the momentum of the game and attacked more on counters.

A Daniel Odafin shot in the 46th minute itself flew inches over the Arrows bar as coach Bobby Nongbet’s team made their intent to attack clear.

Lajong made two substitutions in the second half as their captain Samuel Lalmuanpuia, who was not even sure of making into the playing XI day before the match, made way for Lalrohlua at the break while Hardy was replaced by Redeem Tlang in the 58th minute.

However, the twist in the game came in the 62nd minute when Lalrohlua, who stayed in the field for just 17 minutes, was straightway shown red card by the referee for meeting out a very rough tackle on Ninthoinganba Meetei.

The second half saw some very rough play by the north-eastern side as they were already down to 10 men and were not being able to score. Arrows introduced fresh legs as they made two quick substitutions in the span of five minutes. First Abhishek Halder replaced Jeakson Singh in the 70th minute followed by Naorem changing Sarkar in the middle five minutes later.

Lajong got their best chance of the game in the 78th minute when unmarked Kynsailang Khongsit got a fine cross for the right but he messed it up by tapping the ball over the bar.

Arrows made their last change of the day when they brought in Rahul in place of Meetei just eight minute left in the game. And he didn’t let his coach down by scoring an injury time goal to make the scoreline 3-0 just exactly five minutes after Naorem doubled the team’s lead.
Rahul got a free ball inside the box and he just made quick reflex turn and unleashed a strong grounded left-footer to beat Lajong goalie on his left.
Assistant coach Floyd Pinto managed the team in place of Luis Norton de Matos, who is on Christmas leave. Pinto surprisingly made as many as five changes in the starting XI which played against Gokulam Kerala FC.
Defenders Boris Singh, Deepak Tangri, midfielders Rahul Balan, Abhishek Halder and forward Edmund Lalrindka were made to sit out while Jitendra Singh, Asish Rai, Suresh Singh, Ninthoinganba Meetei and Rahim Ali were given the chance in the starting line-up.
Source : timesofindia