Sporting Club de Goa displayed a dominant performance at home beating 10-men Shillong Lajong FC 5-2 in a Hero I-League football encounter at the Fatorda Stadium on Sunday. With this win, Sporting held on to their fourth spot, with 18 points from 14 games, while Shillong remained on the sixth place.
The Goan team found an early goal in the match when a Rowlin Borges free kick fell on to Mehrajuddin Waddoo who headed the ball into the net in the second minute. The visitors from Shillong were stunned after conceding the early goal and Brazilian duo Fabio and Uilliams for Lajong were pressing forward in search for a goal.
Lajong were sloppy in the back when Sporting doubled the lead in the 21st minute after Sumit Passi went for an air ball against the oncoming keeper and successfully put the ball into the net. Things got worse for Lajong as Uilliams Souza was shown a second yellow in the 29th minute therefore being sent off for committing a second foul.
The game seemed to be out of Lajong's favour as Passi found his second goal for Sporting in the 32nd minute after placing the ball past the goal line from the keeper's rebound off a shot. Shillong, who were playing with 10 men, worked hard to create chances in front but their disadvantage of losing a forward early in the match did not help them.
Bipin Singh replaced Isaac in the 36th minute for Lajong but the scoreline remained 3-0 at half time in favour of the home side.
Sporting controlled the game with the one man advantage and dominated possession really well. Boithang Haokip came on for Samuel Lalmuanpuia in the 51st minute for Lajong who were chasing the ball and trying to break on the counter.
Sporting could have easily scored a few more goals if not for their misfortunate finishing. Then in the 65th minute, Subhashish Bose of Sporting found his name on the scoresheet after heading the ball past the keeper from a free-kick, making it 4-0.
It all looked over for Lajong but in the 77th minute, the persistence and stamina of Penn Orji paid off as he found some space inside the box to shoot with his weaker left foot into the low corner of the net. The goal sparked some hope into the visiting team and Orji scored his second goal of the match in the 86th minute from 30 yards out with a half volley chip into the back of the net.
Lajong substituted Zodingliana with youngster Hardy Cliff Nongbri in the 88th minute. However, Lajong's hope of getting back in the match were squandered when the referee awarded a penalty to Sporting and Mahmoud Al Amenah made no mistake in converting in the 89th minute.
The match finally ended with a scoreline of 5-2 in favour of the home side who dominated the match throughout with a one man advantage.
