Shillong, Oct 29: Ten-man Nangkiew Irat SC celebrated a long overdue victory in the OC Blue Shillong Premier League (SPL) 2024 on Tuesday evening by coming from a goal down to defeat Langsning FC 3-1 at the SSA Stadium at First Ground, Polo, here.
This win puts an end to an eight-game losing streak that goes back to SPL 2023, with Nangkiew Irat having lost six matches in a row last season plus the first two of the current one.
Dauruhipaia Pale (17’) scored first for Langsning but Nangkiew Irat took the win with penalties by Wallamsuk Nongkhlaw (66’, 78’) and another goal by Isak Vanlalpeka (43’).
Langsning’s defence were far from their best, with Nangkiew Irat scripting numerous opportunities to score after carefully threading their way through the back line but many of these chances were scuffed.
The inexperienced Langsning defenders conceded three penalties – two for fouls and one for handball. The first was missed by Isak but the expert Wallamsuk converted the other two. Langsning also won a penalty of their own for a handball but goal scorer Dauruhipaia sent this one into the top row of the gallery behind.
Earlier he had gathered a good cross, dealt with his marker and pumped the ball into the net for Langsning to take the lead early on.
However, the attacking was largely all by Nangkiew Irat, who piled the pressure on the defence and Langsning goalkeeper Rajat Paul Lyngdoh.
It finally came down to Wallamsuk setting the ball up for Isak to equalise just before half time.
There was little that changed in the second half with Langsning desperate to keep their opponents at bay.
A push from behind earned Nangkiew Irat their first penalty but Isak hit it into the stands. Roughly 15 minutes later, the spot kick duties were handed to Wallamsuk and he placed the ball low out to the right of Rajat Paul, who had guessed the wrong way.
Nangkiew Irat even had to play the last 20 minutes a man down after Wanpynshngain Nongsteng received his second yellow card of the evening and from then on Langsning had a few good moves up the right flank but could not convert.
Nangkiew Irat goalie Surjay Kumar Pariyar, who formerly played for Langsning for several seasons, put his body on the line to block a shot from point blank range and there were other near-misses for Langsning, not least of which was Dauruhipaia’s penalty.
Wallamsuk then put the game to bed with his second penalty conversion; this time Rajat Paul did go the correct way but the ball was out of his reach.
On Wednesday, Ryntih FC will take on Rangdajied United FC at 5:30pm.
