Shillong, Nov 04: The Shillong Lajong will play their first away game of Hero I-League 2017/18 season against Indian Arrows on 5th November at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack at 5PM. The match will telecast live on Star Sports 3.
A historic I-League clash awaits as both teams will field an all Indian line up with no foreign players on either side.
The last time the two sides faced each other in an I-League encounter was on 8th January 2018 in Shillong and it was Lajong who were victorious by a 1-0 margin.
The AIFF developmental side will be heading into Monday’s clash after losing to Chennai City FC in their first match of the new I-League season. Although Indian Arrows drew first blood through Amarjit Singh’s goal in the 2nd minute but it was Chennai who won the game in the end by a 4-1 scoreline in Coimbatore.
In the previous season of the I-League, Indian Arrows finished at the bottom of the table. Floyd Pinto who was the assistant to Luis Norton Matos has taken charge as head coach. This AIFF team has travelled the world for exposure and gained some good experience.
As many as four India U-16 players have been promoted to the I-League squad. Rahim Ali, Amarjit Singh and Aniket Jadhav, however, will be the key players to watch out for in the game.
The clash on Monday will be Shillong Lajong’s first of the three consecutive away matches. They played their last two matches at home in Shillong and won their first game – The North East Derby versus Aizawl FC by 2-1 but were defeated by East Bengal FC in their second game by 1-3. Mahesh Singh and Rakesh Pradhan were the goal scorers.
Alison Kharsyntiew’s side departed from Shillong on Saturday morning and arrived in Cuttack late at night. They trained at the venue only on Sunday morning.
However, before The Reds departed from their hometown, they regained the signatures of their former Academy players and defenders, Meban Wahlang from Shillong and Nabin Rabha from Assam to add strength to their backline.
Head Coach, Alison is certain that his boys are ready for the game against Indian Arrows on Monday. He said, “The boys have been working very hard. They are focused and ready for the game.”
He also commented on the host and said that, “Indian Arrows is a strong and a good team. They have very talented players in their squad with good experience playing matches abroad. We have to be ready to give our best. We need to play good football and get three points”, he added.
Indian Arrows Head Coach Floyd Pinto said, “We have watched the last two matches of Shillong Lajong and they were very impressive.”
“Our boys have been training well. The confidence level, the energy level and the intensity is there. So it’s just a matter of transferring that into the game on Monday.”
