Shillong, Aug 11 (PTI) Nongkseh SS&CC signed off their Durand Cup campaign in style, cruising to a dominant 7-0 win over Mumbay FC in their Group E fixture here on Tuesday.
Hardy Cliff Nongbri (11th, 79th) and Dawancha Carlos Challam (76th, 81st) scored twice each to spearhead the emphatic victory, while Kitboklang Pale (41st), Chesterpoul Lyngdoh (56th) and Sheen Stevenson (89th) also got on the scoresheet.
The result lifted Nongkseh to second place in Group E with four points from three matches, level on points with Langsning FC but ahead on goal difference. Shillong Lajong FC lead the group with six points from two matches, with both Shillong Lajong and Langsning still to play their final group-stage fixtures.
Mumbay FC, like Nongkseh, have
completed all three of their matches and ended their campaign at the group stage.
Nongkseh set out with intent from the opening whistle, working an early corner inside the first two minutes that saw Pale go close from the edge of the box, and the home side continued to look the sharper of the two sides down the flanks, with Aenam Jurwa and Lyngdoh regularly finding pockets of space.
Mumbay matched Nongkseh’s early tempo instead of sitting back, and for a spell, the contest was played at an open, attacking pace that belied its position in the group.
The breakthrough came in the 11th minute when Lyngdoh was brought down inside the box by Mumbay goalkeeper Pratik Jadhav for a clear penalty. Nongbri stepped up two minutes later and sent Jadhav the wrong way to open the scoring, a goal that visibly settled the hosts and prompted Mumbay to retreat into a more defensive posture.
A second goal followed in the 41st minute. Sustained Nongkseh pressure eventually told when Kynsailang Khongsit’s delivery from the right was only partially cleared, the loose ball reaching Challam outside the box.
Challam’s shot took a deflection off Pale that wrong-footed Jadhav entirely and nestled in the corner. Pale himself went close again moments later with a curling effort straight down the goalkeeper’s throat, and the sides went in at the break with Nongkseh firmly in command.
Nongkseh struck again in the second half. Aenam, recovering after being fouled inside the box, dribbled past two challenges and set up Tariang, whose blocked shot fell kindly for Lyngdoh to convert from close range in the 56th minute.
Jadhav’s evening ended shortly afterwards, the Mumbay goalkeeper stretchered off with an injury sustained in the buildup to that third goal and replaced by Jebishan L.
The floodgates opened soon after. Challam scored a genuinely outstanding fourth goal in the 76th minute, dribbling past three defenders down the left before finishing coolly at the near post, and Nongbri completed his brace three minutes later with a simple tap-in after being teed up by Stevenson.
Challam added his second, and Nongkseh’s sixth, in the 82nd minute when a tame effort from outside the box squirmed underneath Jebishan and into the net, before Stevenson rounded off the scoring in the 89th minute.
Nongkseh’s campaign concludes with a result that will offer considerable satisfaction, even without a place in the knockout stages to show for it, while Mumbay FC depart the tournament without opening their account. PTI AM AM DDV
