Shivajians end Lajong's winning streak, newbies Minerva hold defending champs

DSK Shivajians rode on Sanju Pradhan and Shane McFaul's goals to beat Shillong Lajong FC 2-1 ending their four-match winning streak at home in the I-league, here on Saturday.

A confident Shillong Lajong FC went with an unchanged playing XI but failed miserably against the visitors, who had made two changes to their side after losing their last match against Bengaluru FC.

Injured Sasa Kolunija and Sumeet Passi were replaced by Rookie Kima and Sanju Pradhan respectively.

The Dave Rogers-coached squad made the best of the first half, scoring their first goal in the 16th minute of the match, whereas Shillong Lajong wasted the opportunities that came their way even as Cameroonian striker Dipanda Dicka found a fine equaliser in the 34th minute.

It was 10 minutes later that Shane McFaul scored the winning goal for DSK Shivajians after the Lajong keeper failed to make a good clearance of a corner kick.

The hosts had the chance to level the scores in the 70th minute of the match when Kosham's shot missed the target and hit the cross bar.

After the win, Shivajians have nine points in their kitty while Lajong have 12 and both the teams are placed at sixth and fourth positions respectively.

In the second match of the day, an own goal by Bengaluru FC defender Sandesh Jhingan saw a spirited Minerva Punjab FC hold the reigning I-League champions to a 1-1 stalemate at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Saturday.

Sunil Chhetri had put the hosts in the lead with a superb strike in the 52nd minute but Bengaluru were denied the full three points when Jhingan's attempted clearance of a cross by Minerva midfielder Kamalpreet Singh found his own net.

Bengaluru are now at the fifth place on the I-League standings with 10 points from six matches. Minerva are at the bottom spot on the 10-team standings with five points from seven matches.

It took an excellent effort from Chhetri to break Minerva's resistance. Udanta Singh's cross into the penalty area was parried away by the Minerva defence but Chhetri smashed the rebound into the net from outside the box.

But the hosts' delight did not last long as Kamalpreet's cross from the right took a deflection off Jhingan to find the back of the net.

In the third game, Chennai City beat Mumbai FC 2-1 with Dhanapal Ganesh and Charles De Souza scoring for the winning side while Anderson R. Da Silva scored the lone goal for Mumbai FC.