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Shillong Lajong FC in their second Group C match suffered a humiliating 0-6 loss against Mohun Bagan AC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Saturday afternoon.
Mohun Bagan put pressure on the Reds from the start as within the first minute Katsumi Yusa provided Odafe Okolie with a brilliant pass only for his shot to be saved brilliantly by Lajong FC goalkeeper Ralte, who was kept busy again in the next few minutes with another attack from the Kolkata side, finding Chizoba upfront whose shot was blocked by an even better save from Ralte.
Ralte’s selection over Vinay Singh proved to be working only up until the 9th minute when Odafe scored off a scrambled ball after Yusa’s corner found no one in the box. Lajong FC tried to find their pace again after conceding the first goal but it was all in vain when Mohun Bagan found their second goal through Christopher Chizoba’s brilliant individual play in the 23rd minute after making some space for himself and scoring with a thunderous strike.
Lajong FC had some chances of their own but failed to convert any of those chances. The Reds even won 10 corners in the first half but failed to score from those set pieces. Mohun Bagan however caught the Lajong FC defence sleeping once again after Yusa was free to only the keeper to beat and Yusa took his chance by put the ball through Ralte’s legs to score Mohun Bagan’s third within 30th minute and placed the Mariners in the driving seat. The first half ended with much to think for the Shillong Lajong players and coach Thangboi Singto.
Mohun Bagan began the second session with much of the pace from the first half and created a lot of chances in front of goal as well. The closest chance came in the 59th minute when Zaheer Mundampara’s shot was saved by the crossbar. Just seconds after the miss another chance came through from Yusa’s pass to Chizoba who ran through Milan Singh and saw his shot fly into the net as Ralte couldn’t keep it out. In the 76th minute Mohun Bagan added a fifth through Odafe who ran into the box beating Jibon Singh and a scramble sent the ball in the air to which Odafe’s acrobatic kick sent the ball into the net once again.
Lajong FC even though trounced were still trying to find a consolation goal but it was the Mariners who struck once more in the second minute of injury time through a brilliant Ram Malik pass across goal which found an unmarked Ujjal Haldar with a tap in and scored his side’s sixth goal of the match.
Shillong Lajong FC with this loss are out of the Federation, but will take on Mumbai FC on January 21 in their final match, while Mohun Bagan AC face Salgaocar FC to decide which team makes it from the group to the semifinals.
