Uilliams makes it rain for Lajong: last minute goal seals draw, sinks Bagan's title hopes

THROUGHOUT THE DAY, dark clouds were passing through the Shillong sky. Multiple times it seemed like it was going to rain. The clouds were still around, threatening to pour down on the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as Shillong Lajong took on Mohun Bagan in a crucial I-League encounter. But soon after the game started a clear sky came out, shining down on the arena. As the weather took its own twists and turns, the game of football that was taking place on the green turf was more than a match to it.

Entering the game yet again without their talisman winger Sony Norde, Bagan's game in the first few minutes wasn't free-flowing to say the least. An early corner went Lajong's way. Then a shot was going straight into the Bagan goal and would have had Kinshuk Debnath not made a sliding goal-line clearance. 

But the Mariners turned things around 17 minutes into the game when Pritam Kotal sent ahead a long ball from the midfield towards Cornell Glen. The striker completely missed it, but luckily Jeje Lalpekhlua was there to take advantage of the ball straying into the Lajong box. He finished perfectly, with just the right amount of power behind the shot to leave keeper Vishal Kaith inches behind from getting his hands on the ball.

Although a goal up, the away side's woes up front continued with a couple of chances catching Glen offside. When he was finally in the right position, to take up a pass sent in by Dhananchandra, his shot was nowhere near the target. Same thing happened when Pritam Kotal put a curving ball in. Glen's header threatened to send it out of the Polo Ground area down to Nongmensong.

The Lajong midfield threatened to push past the Bagan defence multiple times but some determined and sometimes desperate defending they kept the Lajong attack at bay.

But all that changed in the 40th minute when Pritam Kotal brought down Uilliams just outside the penalty box. Pritam got carded and Uilliams took a free kick that took advantage of the well-timed disruption created on the right hand side of the wall and sent the ball through the gap. Debjit Majumder dived but fell short. The game was level. 

Minutes later a similar foul, this time by Luciano, gave Lajong - and Uilliams - a second crack at a close-range set piece. The free kick almost paid off again; Debjit was well short of it, but the ball came off the post. The first half ended 1-1, with the league leaders' discipline when it came to defending set pieces put through some serious questions by Lajong, as the suspended coach, Sanjoy Sen, looked on grimly from the stands.

In the second half, Bagan looked to consolidate the midfield by bringing Souvik in to replace Lenny Rodrigues... a staple Sanjoy Sen move that was tried against Shillong Lajong in the previous leg at Barasat as well. 

Glen began the half with a show of intent, taking on multiple defenders to take the ball deep into the Lajong box only to waste it on an under-pressure weak shot towards the goal. After that he became mostly ineffective as Lajong took control of the gameplay, hogging most of the possession and outpacing their opponents at every move, leaving Bagan without much of a midfield. Katsumi Yusawas reduced to running down to their defensive third, collecting the ball and sending anxious long balls for the forwards who weren't making much out of them.

Ralte got hold of a stray ball from scoring range but missed it. Then Uilliams sent a good ball for Samuels who couldn't get his timing right. On the other end, Katsumi got a free kick that found the single-man wall. Then Jeje tried to get one in that was way too weak to go anywhere. 

After a bit of back and forth, a seemingly casual counter-attack suddenly paid off for Mohun Bagan. A high ball was sent up to Cornell Glen who advanced a bit down the left flank then sent the cross in for Katsumi. The midfielder got around a defender and took a crack at the first post that had neither much pace nor sting. But somehow the keeper Vishal Kaith was unable to judge a ball that should have been easy for him to save. When the ball went into the net, it took everyone by surprise. A sudden silence descended on the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Mohun Bagan were up 1-2 with 13 minutes to spare.

Lajong didn't give up. Penn Orji sent in a good ball that Pritam Kotal cleared. A corner kick came their way that Boithang Haokip took but didn't make much of. A couple of moves by Bagan seemed more intent on eating away the seconds than pushing hard for another goal. 

But just as it seemed the game had been sealed, and there were seconds to spare in the injury time, came the final twist in the tale.

A high ball went straight into the Bagan box. Luciano Sabrosa and Uilliams both jumped up to challenge for the ball but the Bagan defender fell woefully short. It was the Lajong striker who connected, and did so perfectly. The ball went into the net like a bullet.

And just like that, the match was drawn. Just like that, Mohun Bagan's supremacy in the title race lay in tatters. Just like that, Shillong Lajong pulled off a result that epitomized the great comeback they had achieved this season at a time when they were going through the dread of relegation. Just like that, the game ended, and the Shillong sky that had been threatening to rain down all day, finally opened the floodgates. The cold torrential rain poured down on Lajong fans whose cheer was threatening to drown out the noise of the storm, and on the Mohun Bagan players who, out of breath and out of hope, fell to their knees on the velvet-like artificial turf.

The scoreboard read 2-2. There's so many things you can't read on a scoreboard.