Shillong Lajong FC lost to Indian Arrows with 3-0 goals in the I-League played at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Playing in the national Capital for the second time this season, Indian Arrows rode on goals from Jitendra Singh, Nongdamba Naorem and Rahul KP to notch full points.
The visitors finished the game with 10 men after substitute Lalrohlua was sent off in the 61st minute.
Arrows were quicker off the blocks, putting Lajong under pressure early on. With head coach Luis Norton de Matos out of town, his assistant Floyd Pinto got his tactics spot on and managed to keep Lajong’s dangerous attack at bay throughout the 90 minutes.
While Arrows controlled proceedings early on, the first chance of the game fell to Lajong when Abdoulaye Koffi was put through on goal in the 16th minute.
His low shot, however, failed to get past Arrows custodian Dheeraj Singh.
Three minutes later, Arrows earned a free-kick inside the visitors’ half when Sanjeev Stalin was impeded by Lajong’s Daniel Odafin. Arrows’s quick free-kick subsequently took Lajong by surprise and defender Jitendra Singh beat the opposition defenders to put the ball at the bottom right corner of the goal and give his side the lead.
Arrows controlled the game for the rest of the first half as Lajong struggled to keep possession.
At the beginning of the second half, Lajong head coach Bobby Nongbet brought on midfielder Lalrohlua in place of skipper Samuel Lalmuanpuia, who was seen limping towards the end of the first half.
At the hour mark, Lalrohlua’s game ended early after he went hard at Arrows forward Rahim Ali, earning his second yellow card to bring his side down to 10 men.
A player down, Lajong struggled to create chances, and the hosts took full advantage of the situation to add two more goals to their kitty.