The 2015-16 football season has ended for I-League outfit from the North East, Meghalaya, Shillong Lajong FC. The senior squad who will now go on a break, gathered one last time on the final day of the season, on Friday evening for a farewell and awards ceremony in Shillong.
The Reds kicked off the 2015-16 season brightly as the youngsters from the Academy won the Under 19 Shillong Premier League in July 2015. The Lajong academy lads then went on to retain the Shillong Premier League Super Division Championship that was played from September to November 2015.
Lajong kicked off its I-League campaign on January 10, 2016. The Club who finished 6th in the I-League standings won four, drew six and lost six times. The youngsters (Under 22) from the Academy played the maximum minutes in the I-League with a total of 8,191 which is the highest compared to any other Under 22 Players from other clubs.
Also read: Mohun Bagan win 2016 Federation Cup with 5-0 rout of Aizawl FC
The Federation Cup campaign began on 1st May for Shillong Lajong and the team displayed a remarkable performance in both home and away encounters against East Bengal FC winning by 4:3 on aggregate and reached the semi-finals stage.
Following are the Winners of the Club Awards:
1. Bipin Singh (SPL Player of the year)
- Played 15 matches in the Shillong Premier League
- Scored 2 goals
- Made 11 assists
2. Samuela Lalmuanpuia (Young player of the year)
- SPL - Played 11 matches, scored 10 goals, made 3 assists.
- I-League – made 11 appearances, scored 1 Goal.
- At the age of 17, he is the youngest goal scorer in the I-league history.
3. Pritam Kumar Singh (Fans Player of the year)
- Played almost every match in the SPL
- Played 15 I-league matches and 4 Federation Cup matches
4. Kunzang Bhutia (Excellent Player Spirit)
- Despite the few chances this season in starting XI, he always had the sporting team spirit.
- He would give 100% on training even if he knew he would not be in Starting XI.
- This Player displayed an excellent spirit with the team and stayed positive throughout the season.
- Played the most crucial game, which was the last I-league must win game against East Bengal and kept a clean sheet.
5. Penn Orji (Player of the year)
- Played all 16 matches in I-league
- Played all the 4 matches in Federation Cup.
- Played every single minute of all Lajong matches this season
- Scored 2 goals and made 4 assists this season
6. Aiborlang Khongjee (Legends Award)
- Aibor was selected from SAI
- Joined Shillong Lajong FC in the year 2005
- Joined East Bengal in 2007 for 1 year & also joined Mohun Bagan for 2 years from 2012-2014
- He has been with Lajong for over 8 years
- Has been part of the national team since 2006 with the Under 19 Team
- Has made 5 Senior Appearances for India
- He won the SAFF Cup in the year 2015 with the National Team
- Captain of Lajong for the past 2 seasons.
7. Boithang Haokip (Legends Award)
- Born in Manipur, joined Lajong in the year 2008
- He made his senior appearance in the I-league with Lajong in the year 2009
- He has been part of the Club for 8 years
- Best season was in 2013-14 where he played almost every game and scored 5 goals.
- Won Fans Player of the year in the FPAI awards in the year 2014.
He earned himself the nickname “Beckham of the north East” for his famous free kick goals
