I-League: Gritty Indian Arrows overcome Shillong Lajong 1-0

A gritty and young Indian Arrows team earned their first point of the season with a 1-0 victory over Shillong Lajong at the Barbati Stadium in Cuttack on Monday.

Ashish Rai scored the lone goal in the 11^th minute as the Arrows bounced back from the 1-4 away defeat to Chennai City in their opening I-League encounter. The victory helped them climb to third in the table on three points after two matches, while Lajong remained on fifth with the same number of points from a match more.

A game, where both teams fought fearlessly, but Indian Arrows secure 3 points from Asish’s early strike to secure a 1-0 victory.#ARWLAJ #HeroILeague #ILeagueIConquer pic.twitter.com/2TKBTiGuKh

— Hero I-League (@ILeagueOfficial) November 5, 2018

Lajong were also coming on the back of a heavy 1-3 defeat to East Bengal and looked confident to win the game until Rai scored 10 minutes later. The visitors dominated possession in the opening few minutes but lacked the final ball often ending up in displacing the ball in the attacking third.

It was from one such misplaced pass that Rai latched onto before placing the ball into the top-right corner with a curled effort.

Lajong’s best opportunity to score in the first half came when Kenstar Kharshong got plenty of time to connect his header on target from a Samuel Lamuanpuia corner but disappointingly headed wide.

Arrows on the other, were happy to defend their slender lead and played on counter giving Lajong the free-will to control the midfield play but prevented them from having an open shot on goal.

It was the visitors, who once again had the best opportunity to score in the second half. With two minutes of play remaining on the clock, Aibanbha Dohling’s header from a free-kick looked for the net but Arrows defender Reamsochung Chongompipa Aimol produced a last-minute goal-line save to deny them a point.

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Image Source: AIFF/Twitter