An ice-cool Lalhlimthara slotted home the solitary goal for Lajong in the 53rd minute against Mohammedan Sporting to make the difference between the two teams and open the I-League doors for them.
The win helped Lajong to finish at the top of the table with 16 points from 7 matches while Sporting finished on the 7th spot with 4 points from 7 matches.
After a goalless first half, Lalhlimthara tapped it in from a melee to bulge the net. The crowd went berserk.
The beauty of the game in Shillong stays that you just cannot sit alone in the Lajong crowd. The beat of the drums, the bugles, the flags, the songs and the chant will just force you to be a part of ‘them,’ -- the Lajong crowd. There’s something about the atmosphere.
Not far away, there was dejection; or rather disappointment to be precise. United Sikkim and Vasco SC had turned up in the stands expecting an upset. But it wasn’t to be.
For the Lajong players, it was party-time. Captain Gumpe Rime dedicated the moment to the fans. “We have been waiting for this day for long. This is for the fans, this is for the club,” he said before rushing off to join the prayer session on the ground.
Even as the entire squad went on a victory lap at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, striker James Gbilee, who with his turns proved a constant threat to the Sporting defence said: “It’s party-time. We will party hard tonight. Let this night never end.”
The sun sets early in the hills. Even as the streetlights were on and the celebrations seemed to have no end, Shillong Lajong could foresee a dawn, the dawn of a new era.
Ar-Hima keep hopes alive: Meanwhile, in an earlier match, a determined Ar-Hima defeated a lacklustre Southern Samity 3-0 to keep alive their slender chances of qualifying to next season’s I-League.
Emmanuel Inioyoh scored a brace for the winners, the first in the 7th minute and the second in the 43rd minute. In between Zico Zoremsanga scored another in the 12th minute.
Ar-Hima finished their engagements on 11 points with a goal-difference of 3, the same as Vasco SC. But having scored more goals than Vasco, United Sikkim and even Sporting Clube de Goa at this stage, they still stand with a chance of making it.
Southern finished their engagements at the bottom of the table on 4 points from 7 matches.
