Shillong: Salgaocar SC will be under pressure when they face a confident Lajong FC, which will be backed by a full-capacity stadium, in a sixth round encounter of the ONGC I-League here on Monday.
Lajong have been a confident lot having beaten Air India 3-0 at home and lost narrowly to Mohun Bagan 1-2 in their last match here, and Salgaocar’s new coach Tim Hankinson knows it.
“Lajong will play pressure football. We have seen it in their match against Mohun Bagan. It will be a tough match but we are ready,” Salgaocar coach Tim Hankinson told reporters.
Asked about the crowd support that will be behind Lajong, he said, “It’s a part of training and development for my boys. It is necessary for the professional player (to play under such situation). We have played in such conditions and crowd is necessary for players to play good football.”
Hankinson became the third coach to express concern over the ground condition after his counterparts in Air India and Mohun Bagan.
“It will not be easy to play good football. The ground has very little grass. The ball will not be rolling normally and will keep on bouncing,” he said.
Lajong secretary Larsing Ming said his team was “fully prepared” for the match.
“Though we lost the last match against Bagan, we were in control of the match most of the time. We were deprived of two penalties which could have been decisive,” Ming said.
Lajong will field their new recruit Anil Gurung, Nepal’s top striker, in tomorrow’s match and his presence might boost the home side forward line.
The match also assumes significance as current Lajong coach Stanley Razario had coached Salgaocar prior to taking over the Shillong side.
In the I-League table, Lajong are placed seventh with six points from five matches, while Salgaocar are below them with five points from four matches.
Bureau Report