Week 3 Begins With Aizawl & Mohun Bagan Bagging Wins

Aizawl FC won their second consecutive home game on Tuesday at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Aizawl, in the Mizoram capital, as they beat Shillong lajong 2-1 to go to the top of the Hero I-League ladder.

Shillong Lajong started the Northeastern derby brightly and were looking very dangerous in front of goal. Their defence in the first 20 minutes was more organised than their previous 2 matches. However, they missed a golden opportunity in the 5th minute, after Aizawl defender Lalruatthara tackled Redeem Tlang in the box resulting in a penalty for Shillong, but Fabio Pena failed to score from it.

Lalruatthara eventually opened the scoring in the 31st minute with Jayesh Rane doubling Aizawl’s advantage in the 64th minute. Shillong Lajong’s Yuta Kinowaki scored in the 83rd minute from the penalty spot to reduce the margin.

This loss was Shillong’s third straight defeat of the season.

During the other Tuesday match, Mohun Bagan thumped four goals past newcomers Minerva Punjab at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium, with both Darryl Duffy and Jeje Lalpekhlua scoring a brace.

Scottish striker Duffy opened the scoring in the 16th minute heading a curling free-kick from Sony Norde. The advantage was doubled in the 28th minute when Jeje Lalpekhlua converted an easy tap-in from Subhashish Bose’s low cross for his first goal of the competition in his first start.

Four short minutes later and Mohun Bagan were another goal ahead. Katsumi Yusa’s long ball from midfield was met by Darryl Duffy right on the edge of the box, the Scot was unstoppable forcing goalKeeper Kamaljit Singh to come off his line to try and suppress the danger he could not prevent Duffy from scoring his brace in brilliant fashion.

Jeje then netted the second of his brace in the 77th minute from a simple rebound after the Minerva goalkeeper fumbled, to take all 3 points.