I-League Media Team

KOLKATA: An upbeat Shillong Lajong side will try to stop the Mohun Bagan juggernaut, when the two teams face off in an I-League encounter at Barasat on Wednesday.

The hosts, who are enjoying the top position of the table have earned 24 points from their first 10 matches. The Sanjoy Sen coached side is still unbeaten in the competition and will hope to extend their lead further on the top of the table.

Balwant Singh, who had missed Bagan’s 3-1 victory against Salgaocar last week due to a minor injury, is all set to return to the first team with Jeje Lalpekhlua making way. It will also be interesting to see whether Sanjoy includes Pritam Kotal in the starting line-up as the youngster is now back from his stint with the u-23 national team. In case Kotal comes in, it will probably be at the expense of Anwar Ali with Kinshuk Debnath returning to central defense.

Another headache for Sen will be the suspension of Bikramjit Singh, who got the marching order late in the last game. Either Souvik Chakrabarti or Sehnaj Singh will be taking his place at the center of the park.

Talking about their opponents, Shillong Lajong are fresh from a resounding 6-0 win against Mumbai FC and will be hoping to continue their winning run in order to get out of the relegation zone.

The North East side, who had a bad start to the campaign, have performed reasonably well in the away matches though. The Thangboi Singto coached outfit have garnered 7 points from as many away matches and are third on the table if only the away performance is taken into account. They have also scored 13 goals in those matches, highest among the I-League sides.

Cornel Glen will be the main threat for Bello Rasaq and co. as the former Trinidad and Tobago international has scored 9 goals in as many starts for the side. Penn Orji and Uilliams Bomfin has also been in rich vein of form of late and can be creative enough to feed Glen with quality balls in the Bagan territory.

Lajong’s last away victory against the Green and Maroon came way back in 27th March, 2010 as the hosts enjoy a much superior head to head record against the Reds. Glen, however, may take motivation from his superb hat-trick against Mohammedan Sporting last year in Kolkata, when the local club were beaten 5-4 by Lajong.

Kick-off: 8th March @ 4:30 PM (Ten Action)
 

Hash Tag: #MMBvSLFC