I-League: Top five relegation deciders

Viva Kerala 2-1 Shillong Lajong (May 4 2010)

After that vital away win over Sporting Clube, Viva Kerala picked up just two points from their next five matches and found themselves back in the bottom two. Coming into this encounter, they trailed I-League debutants Shillong Lajong by one point and the north-east club had picked up five points from their previous three games. Crucially though those three fixtures of Lajong were on home soil and they like Viva Kerala had been poor on their travels all season. There were only two more rounds of matches after this so both sides were desperate for a win and in the end Viva Kerala’s home advantage proved to be the major difference.

Playing in the unfamiliar hot and humid conditions of a May afternoon in Kozhikode, Lajong’s young squad just couldn’t play to their full potential while Viva Kerala attacked from the very first whistle and deservingly went in front through Rahul P. Just like the game against Sporting Clube in March, the Kerala club couldn’t find the second goal until the second half when Sabeeth found the back of the net. James Giblee made it 2-1 soon after to set up a nervy final half four for Viva Kerala but they eventually secured the win to go above Lajong and move out of the drop zone. The Shillong club lost both their final two games to get relegated while two more draws saw Viva Kerala beat the drop.