Undaunted Udanta scores and assists as BFC close the gap on Bagan by slaying Lajong 0-2

UDANTA SINGH carried out the role of the chief executioner as Bengaluru FC slayed Shillong Lajong in their own backyard by a 0-2 margin, making the I-League race a lot more tighter than it already was.

While the home side went more or less with the squad that drew against Shivajians, replacing only Uilliams with Lalmuanpuia up front, Bengaluru FC looked to step up from their 1-0 winning performance against Aizawl, and recalled Lalchhuanmawia, Thoi Singh, Shankar Sampingiraj and Kim Song-yong into the starting line-up.

The game started out slow, but it was clear that the visitors were making most of the attacks. Early on Udanta Singh got a chance to score but only found the side netting with his shot. Then John Johnson tried a header towards the goal that was cleared. 

Udanta Singh was tackled hard by Vishal Kaith as he sought to rise to a set piece. The referee immediately flashed a yellow. Udanta, undaunted, remained a threat. Minutes later he let fly at the goal but missed, and later took a free kick that got headed out for a corner. But soon he found his mark.

Osano took a free-kick that reached Udanta inside the box as the latter's marker fumbled on his way to block his reach for the ball. Udanta tried to take a shot, missed, went at it again and this time the ball went in. 

Sunil Chhetri almost doubled the lead for the visitors when he took a free kick from scoring range, but keeper Vishal pulled off a great diving save to keep it 0-1 at half-time.

Lajong got a corner kick early on in the second half. As the ball came in, Samuel Lalmuanpuia took a cracking shot at goal on the turn that left everyone dumbfounded. But the ball hit the crossbar. It could have been one of the goals of the season had it gone a few centimeters down.

Then Boithang took a free kick that was bang on target but Amrinder saved it with a dive and got a bit injured on the landing, although he was able to continue and made a brilliant save again minutes later when Fabio pulled the trigger from inside the box. 

Sunil Chhetri took a free kick and Kim Song-yong's header found the net, but the referee ruled it out for offside. But minutes later the North Korean striker struck, from a corner kick taken by Udanta Singh which he headed right in. It was 81 minutes on the clock, and Bengaluru FC were 0-2 up. 

Lajong got the chance to get one back in the very last seconds of the match. Uilliams sent in a long ranger that beat the keeper but missed the bar by inches. The match ended with Bengaluru picking up 3 vital points.

With Thangboi Singto's boys completely failing to match up to BFC especially when it came to putting pressure on their defense, Ashley Westwood can now breathe a little easy because his team was visibly back to their calm but dominant rhythm. They had suffered a couple of defeats and the previous win against Aizawl FC wasn't entirely convincing, but a performance like this away from home goes a long way to restore confidence. And Udanta Singh, who got a goal and an assist, played his best game of the season yet.

And more significantly, Bengaluru FC have now almost caught up with Mohun Bagan in the title race. With 21 points from 10 matches, they are now just 1 point behind the league leaders, and their bid to reclaim the title from the Mariners has come alive once again.