Rangdajied stun erratic Bagan

Relegation contenders Rangdajied United pulled off a shock 2-0 win against Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Sunday.

Winless in 10 games before their encounter against Bagan, the Meghalaya-based club took the lead through Manandeep Singh in the 22nd minute before Eugeneson Lyngdoh further extended the advantage in the 66th minute to complete one of the biggest shocks of the I-League season so far.

The hosts, however, pressed hard, with Katsumi being the architect of those attacks. But soon, Rangdajied players settled down and in no time silenced the Mariners at the stand. It was Manandeep again, who broke the deadlock when Yohei Iwasaki dribbled passed two defenders and found the former East Bengal striker inside the six-yard box, who coolly slotted the ball home. Lyngdoh then sealed the game with a 66th minute goal. 

In between, the Green and Maroon brigade made few inroads. But none was dangerous enough to trouble the defence or the ’keeper before Tomba Singh came up with another brilliant header, forcing Sandip Nandi to stretch full-length to keep the ball away.

The win lifts Rangdajied (8 points) to 12th place in the table, a point and a place above bottom club Churchill Brothers.

Sporting lose

At Mapusa in Goa, Sporting Clube de Goa had an opportunity to keep pace with the table toppers but lost to Salgaocar 1-0 in a tight affair.

Kalu Ogba scored in the 23rd minute after good work from forward Boima Karpeh and Arturo Garcia.

The win took Sporting Clube de Goa to fourth place in the table with 18 points from 11 matches, on the same number of points as their opponents but a placing below because of an inferior goal difference.

Salgaocar did come to finding a leveller on a few occasions but the Sporting defenders held on.

Pune FC, who earlier in the week got to know that they would be taking part in an AFC Champions League playoff spot, couldn’t capitalise on Salgaocar’s slip up as they were held 1-1 against United SC.

After Nikhil Kadam had put Pune in front on 77 minutes, United SC’s Asif Kottayil restored parity six minutes from injury time.