I-League: Namdhari brush past Inter Kashi; Shillong Lajong thumps Sporting Club Bengaluru

Namdhari FC rose to second place in the 2024-25 I-League after beating Inter Kashi 2-0 at the Namdhari Stadium in Sri Bhaini Sahib on Monday.

The hosts, who played with ten men for almost the entirety of the second half, scored once in each period via Bhupinder Singh and Francis Addo.

It was the fourth straight clean sheet for Namdhari, and the second time they won a game after receiving a red card. Harpreet Singh’s team are now level on 14 points with Inter Kashi, but ahead on head-to-head.

Inter Kashi’s second defeat of the campaign meant that Churchill Brothers regained top spot in the league with 16 points.

Inter Kashi struggled to get any sort of a foothold in the opening stages of the match and Namdhari took advantage with a 13th-minute opening goal.

Brazilian Cledon da Silva’s low strike from long range was parried by Arindam Bhattacharya but only towards the edge of the six-yard box. Bhupinder Singh was the quickest to pounce and thrashed in the rebound to score his first I-League goal for Namdhari.

Inter Kashi continued to be on the backfoot and required an Anil Chawan block on the line to prevent a second Namdhari goal after Manvir Singh struck on target.

Antonio López Habas, back in the dugout after serving a suspension, removed Joni Kauko, who scored the winner against Dempo last week, and put on Julen Pérez after only half an hour.

Gradually, the visitors began creating chances, the best of which came to Nikola Stojanović, who struck the woodwork with a curling left-footed free-kick.

On another occasion, a Narayan Das corner caused commotion in the Namdhari box as the hosts put bodies on the line to block Mohammed Asif’s volley and Sumeet Passi’s shot.

The flow of the match completely changed in the 54th minute when Namdhari defender Lamine Moro was shown a second yellow card, reducing the hosts to ten players. Harpreet responded by bringing on defender Akashdeep Singh in place of winger Peter Haokip, while Habas introduced Bidyashagar Singh and Vikash Singh.

Ultimately, completely against the run of play, Namdhari scored a second goal which killed the game. Cledson did all the hard work on the right wing, dribbling near the by-line before laying a cutback that Joseph Gordon was smart enough to let go so that Francis Addo could have a bite at it.

The Ghanaian struck a sweet first-time shot into the bottom corner to seal the win for the hosts.

There was drama in the closing stages as Inter Kashi twice came close to scoring. First, Vikash’s cross-turned-shot landed in the back of the net but it did not count as Julen had interfered with the delivery from an offside position.

Later, Bidyashagar blazed over from point-blank range which meant Inter Kashi failed to score in a match for only the second time this season.

Shillong Lajong thumps Sporting Club Bengaluru

Shillong Lajong FC ran riot once again at the SSA Stadium as they beat Sporting Club Bengaluru 5-0 in the I-League 2024-25 on Monday.

The hosts led 2-0 at the break after goals from Daniel Gonçalves and Figo Syndai before Douglas Tardin scored the fastest hat-trick of the season, inside 15 minutes, to complete the rout for José Hevia’s side.

It wasn’t a eight-goal demolition that Lajong handed Rajasthan United last month, but still an utter humiliation for newly-promoted SC Bengaluru who remained rooted to the bottom of the table with just five points in eight games so far.

Shillong Lajong’s third win of the campaign and fourth consecutive clean sheet at home lifted them to fourth place with 12 points.

It was a rough start to the match with plenty of crunching tackles flying around. It didn’t take referee Shantan Agrawal long to start brandishing cards and Shillong Lajong’s Kynsailang Khongsit and Aman Ahlawat, and SC Bengaluru’s Manoj Kannan were already in the book after just 17 minutes.

There weren’t many clear cut chances despite the action being end-to-end because of some wasteful finishing from both sides.

However, Shillong Lajong changed that trend in the 40th minute as Daniel Gonçalves scored with a crisp volley from a Hardy Cliff Nongbri corner.

The Brazilian defender, left unmarked by the visitors’ defence, opened up his body and side-footed it with his left boot. Japanese goalkeeper Yuya Kuriyama, making his debut for the Golden Tigers, could’ve done better as he got a big part of his glove to the ball but couldn’t keep it out.

At the stroke of half-time, Figo Syndai doubled the lead after a solid team effort from the hosts. Phrangki Buam slipped a cutback from the right that landed perfectly outside the six-yard box for Syndai, who converted with ease.

The second half only belonged to one man – Tardin. The first of his 15-minute scoring spree was a tap-in from close range in the 60th minute after a howler from Kuriyama.

The Japanese spilled what should’ve been a rather comfortable save from Damaitphang Lyngdoh’s long-range strike and Tardin duly punished it.

Seven minutes later, the Brazilian scored with a fine header into the bottom corner after a peach of a cross from the right by Khongsit.

Tardin completed his hat-trick in the 75th minute, capitalising on a poor headed pass by Chongtham Kishan Singh. He raced into the box and deftly dinked it over an onrushing Kuriyama to make it five for Lajong.