I-League: Unlucky Rangdajied go down to Mohammedan Sporting

Rangdajied United FC’s unbeaten home run came to an end today at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong with a 0-3 defeat to Mohammedan Sporting Club.

Tolgay Ozbey opened the scoring for the visitor in the 7th minute before Joshimar Silva doubled the lead 10 minutes later. Captain Jerry Zirsanga also got his name on the score sheet, scoring the 3rd goal of the team in the 41st minute.

With Rangdajied looking to convert their brilliant performances to a 3-pointer, coach Santosh Kashyap made as many as 3 changes in the starting XI. Skipper Eugeneson, out with an injury, was replaced by Bhola Prasad while new I-League registrant Shin Hojun came in for Sandesh Gadkari. Edmar Figueira meanwhile came in ahead of T. Lalnunpuia.

But the Meghalaya team had a bad day in the office with the Kolkata side making inroads right to the goal in the 7th minute when Tolgay Ozbey blasted in a powerful right footer from just inside the box. Undeterred Rangdajied responded immediately when Shin’s 30 yard scorcher missed the far post by inches.

It was then Edmar’s chance when he dribbled into the box just for his shot to be brilliantly saved by Ashok Singh. Rangdajied put the pressure on but against the run of play, Mohammedan silenced the Shillong crowd. In the 17th minute, a corner kick resulted in a scuffle in the box which was smartly put across the Rangdajied goalkeeper by Mohammedan’s captain Jerry Zirsanga.

However, Rangdajied kept fighting with Edmar and Shin often breaching the defence but ending up with Ashok Singh spoiling their efforts. Ashok Singh getting the Man of the Match award testify the chances Rangdajied created. But again, the host were at the receiving end again when Joshimar scored the 3rd goal, to give his side a 3 goal cushion at the break.

The 2nd half was also no different with only Mohammedan failing to score any further. Rangdajied did their best to comeback like they did against Dempo and kept attacking with every move. Crowds shouted for the introduction of T Lalnunpuia and coach Santosh Kashyap let the Mizo lad go in, taking off Edmar.

Together with the Shin, the diminutive striker created few more chances. Their one-two pass in the 78th minute had the Korean hitting the far post. Elam Abocha also had his shot brilliantly saved by the Mohammedan custodian.

In the end, it was a bad day in the office for the I-League newbie’s as they will have to introspect and retrospect themselves before they embark for back to back away matches.