AGENCIES, PUNE: Laldanmawia Ralte scored a late goal as Aizawl FC beat DSK Shivajians by a solitary goal and jumped to the top spot in the I-League points table here on Tuesday.
Ralte struck in the 85th minute to Aizawl full three points at the Balewadi Sports Complex ground here.
Khalid Jamil’s side had to dig deep to finally get the better of the home team, who could have scored a late equaliser but Lalrinzuala’s profligacy in front of the goal cost them a vital point at home.
DSK Shivajians, without a win in their last five matches, made three changes to the side which faced Chennai City in the last game week.
At the back, Serbian Sasa Kolunija replaced Ricky Lallawmawma, while under-22 player Jerry Lalrinzuala was introduced from the start along with Ongnam Milan Singh.
Aizawl manager Khalid Jamil made no changes to his starting line-up from the side’s 2-0 win against Mumbai FC at home last time.
Aizawl started the game with good intensity, pushing DSK Shivajians on the backfoot early on, but lacked penetration in their passing around the opposition’s 18-yard-box.
With scores level till the 70th minute, both managers then decided to bring on pairs of fresh legs in the final 20 minutes. Eventually, against the run of play, Laldanmawia Ralte broke the deadlock in the 85th minute, courtesy of some neat build-up play down the left flank, and Ralte had an easy tap-in to get the better of Subrata ‘Spiderman’ Paul.
With the win, Aizawl FC (29) go two points clear of East Bengal (27) at the top while DSK Shivajians continue to languish at the seventh spot with 11 points from 13 matches.
Meanwhile, Shillong Lajong bettered their records on the road as they overcame the Minerva Punjab FC barrier by 2-1 at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana.
Samuel Lalmuanpuia (27′) opened the scoreline for the visitors where Karim Nurain (36′) drew parity on the scorecard nine minutes later. Fabio Pena (45′) pulled another for the Highlanders at the stroke of the half-time which eventually made the difference between the two teams.
