Shillong Lajong defeat Sheffield football club by solitary goal

SHILLONG - Shillong Lajong F.C. Tuesday defeated English club Sheffield F.C. by a solitary goal in an exhibition soccer match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here in Meghalaya.

It was the local outfit which dominated the game and broke the deadlock in the 75th minute when striker Racy K. Lalremmawia converted a pass from Ramlauha into a goal.

In the 16th minute, the English side got a chance to take lead but an attempt from within the box hit the goal post.

The visitors came close to levelling score with a free kick awarded to in the final minutes of the play.

Twenty-year-old Racy also missed as many as half a dozen chances to score a goal.

Sheffield FC coach Christ Dolby said: “We were not playing competitive game as we did not want to take risk as the boys are not used to the bouncy pitch.”

“Shillong Lajong played well on the same turf. Once you keep playing in one condition and pitch you are going to perform well,” he said.

Commenting about the refereeing, Dolby said: “Refereeing here is different than that in Europe, but some fouls that were given here are not fouls back home, so it was difficult for us to adapt to it.”

“Anyway, it is not a complaint,” he said.

Echoing Dolby, Shillong Lajong F.C. coach Pradyum Reddy said: “When we are bringing in coaches and players from outside and our players are going out, we have to educate our referees to follow world standards.”

“You can’t stop the game every five seconds, it only happens in local league. They should allow some physical contacts. After all it is a physical game. You have to allow the game to flow. It is not good for the players and even the spectators if the game is halted frequently,” he said.

The exhibition match saw the referee issuing three yellow cards. The local outfit was reduced to 10 men in the 83rd minute when one of its strikers was shown the red card watched by nearly 20,000.

Meanwhile, German football club Bayern Munich has invited 10 of Shillong Lajong’s best under-15 players for trials at Kolkata.

The best players will be given an opportunity to go to Germany later in 2011 and train with the players of Bayern Munich, a Shillong Lajong official said.