Shillong August 03: A fresh and young side, Shillong Lajong is all set and ready to face off the newly promoted club Sawmer SC in their first match of the Shillong Premier League Super Division on 4th August at the JN Stadium in Shillong at 4PM.
Lajong were eyeing on a fourth consecutive Shillong Premier League Title last season and finished as the third best at the end of the league stage with 24 points. They met Malki SC in the first semi-finals on 4th December and won the match by 6-5 after the game went to penalty shoot-out. Lajong were to face off Langsning on the 7th of December in the second semi-finals clash but had to pull out from the tournament as the team departed for Kolkata on the very same day to play three consecutive I-League away matches.
The Reds are keeping all that behind now and have built a strong team for the new season which is a combination of the U-18 Youth League Champions and some of the youngsters from the I-League side. The likes of Redeem Tlang, Shaiborlang Kharpan and Alen Deory who were the senior players last season, have been signed by ISL Clubs.
Nevertheless, the younger generation players have been preparing rigorously for the new SPL season under the watchful eyes of Coach Alison Kharsyntiew and team manager Birendra Thapa.
Coach Alison Kharsyntiew said, “We have two objectives that we want to achieve on Saturday. First is team combination and second is the fitness of the team.”
“This year we have a very young team with only three or four senior players who are all under 22. We have been working very hard. The players are focused and hungry to perform in every game.”
“Sawmer is a good team. They have good players. They will come all out against us. We need to be ready for that. It’s going to be an exciting match.”
He further added, “SPL is going to be a good platform for our young players to get exposure. We will try to give a good performance in every game and hopefully win the cup this year.”
Sawmer Sports Club and Nangkiew Irat were promoted to the Super Division of the Shillong Premier League 2018 season.
