I-League 2018-19: 3 Reasons why Shillong Lajong lost to Churchill Brothers

Shillong Lajong played their third straight away game on a trot when they faced Churchill Brothers in the Tilak Maidan in Goa today. Churchill came into the game being one of the only two sides not to win a game in the ongoing I-League season.

Lajong came into the game on the back of three straight defeats at the hands of East Bengal, Arrows and Gokulam Kerala FC.

Churchill wanted to get all three points from the game and secure their first win of the season, while Lajong wanted at least a draw from the tie to take a point home at least from their three-game journey.

Churchill started the game as the better team and could have taken an early lead through Wills Plaza, but the Trinidad and Tobago striker made a hash of a comfortable situation.

Lajong opted to go for a strategy that saw the young boys from Meghalaya test the Churchill keeper from a distance.

Wills Plaza finally broke the deadlock in the 18th minute to give Churchill the lead. Lajong skipper Samuel Lalmuanpuia was rewarded for his continuous efforts from a distance when he curled one into the top left corner of the Churchill net to give Shillong the equaliser.

The red machines had their lead restored by their skipper Dawda Ceesay in the 38th minute through a Wills Plaza pass. Churchill went into the break with a slender one-goal lead.

Lajong came off the blocks quickly in the second half and equalised through Samuel's namesake Samuel Kynshi. After that, it was all Churchill who pressed the accelerator hard scored two goals in the span of three minutes to give Churchill a two-goal lead which they saw through for the rest of the game. Wills Plaza scored a hattrick to derail Lajong's hope of getting at least a point from the game.

With this 4-2 victory over Lajong Churchill registered their first win of the season.

On that note let us take a look at three reasons why Lajong lost to Churchill.

#3 Dip in the form of the two main Centre Backs, Kenstar's injury

The first two games that Lajong played everyone praised their Centre Back pairing of Aibanbha Dohling and Kenstar Kardong. The centre-back duo was superb against Aizawl and East Bengal. So much so that the lads kept the free-scoring Mexican Enrique Esqueda completely quiet.

Today though it was a different tale, with Kenstar injured and not playing Kynsailang Khongsit paired Aibanbha in the heart of the defence.

Right from the kick-off, it was evident that the bonding between the two wasn't great as Churchill kept getting past the defence on numerous occasions.

Kenstar had a dip in form from the Arrows game, but still, he is Lajong's best Centre Back at present, and his injury really cost the side. Lajong fielded a new Centre Back pairing today against one a team which has one of the best attacks in the league at least on Paper.

Aibanbha has been superb until today, and his dip in form hurt Lajong a lot today. He is someone who is known for his physical presence and tackling, but somehow today he couldn't implement his physical presence properly and looked shaky going into the tackle.

If one looks at the replay of the fourth goal Churchill scored, then it will be clear that Aibanbha had the chance to tackle Plaza outside the box and maybe even get the ball, but the young lad choose to get into a running race with Plaza instead, and that really cost his side.

With Lalrohlua also having a slight dip in performance the defence suffered today, and it is evident from the scoreboard. Had Wills Plaza not missed some four-five sitters than the scoreboard would have been a reflection of a tennis score.

#2 Inexperience and poor away form continue to haunt Lajong

I had mentioned in my previous piece that Lajong are Lions at home and Cats away from home and I stand by that statement. The main reason for such an abysmal performance away from home for the Reds has been the inexperience of the players.

Lajong has decided to go with an all Indian squad in the I-League this season, and it is the first time an I-League side apart from the Arrows have done so. With their team comprising of all Academy graduates the one thing that this Lajong side lack in is the experience of playing outside the Northeastern region.

The change in weather and water conditions affect a players performance, and only when one is well suited to the travel and busy, cramped schedule of the I-League that players can go about putting in good performances in away games.

This run of three away games should act as a big learning curve for these young lads, and maybe in their next round of travels, they will put in a better performance.

#1 Change in tactics for Lajong and Mahesh not Starting

Naorem Mahesh Singh has been the spearhead for Lajong's attack this season with the lad from Manipur scoring a brace in their opening game against Aizawl to give the Reds their first victory of the season. This season a thing that has been associated with Lajong's gameplay has been their short crisp passing and building moves with pace.

Today though it was a different story right from the onset the players had the mentality to shoot from a distance whereas they could have played a pass or two and had a pop at goal from a closer range. The absence of Naorem Mahesh Singh in the starting eleven seemed to affect the usual game that Lajong played.

Sheen tried his best to cover for Mahesh but wasn't able to do what Mahesh has been doing. We also saw more than a few long balls played forward by Lajong today, but without the presence of a proper target man up front, those balls went ashtray.

Mahesh was introduced in the final few moments of the game and immediately affected the game as he won a free kick from a dangerous situation and almost had a cross converted by Sheen.

The wingbacks also overlapped very rarely today, and that forced Lajong to play a narrow game through the centre which Churchill saw out with the big men present in the middle of the park.

Lajong's slightly defensive approach to the game and tweaking the tactics according to that stopped them from using their strengths which in turn provided the perfect platform for Churchill to go for victory.

Hope Lajong learn from their mistakes today and utilise their potential in a better manner in their next game against Minerva Punjab.