I-League: Shillong Lajong ride on Dipanda Dicka's double strike to beat Mumbai FC; Chennai City beat Aizawl for maiden win

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Shillong/Chennai: Shillong Lajong and debutants Chennai City FC registered comfortable wins in their respective fifth round matches of the I-League on Saturday.

Lajong rode on a double strike from Dipanda Dicka to beat Mumbai FC 3-1 at the Nehru Stadium in Shillong.

This was Lajong's second straight win of the season while Mumbai slumped to their third defeat on the trot.

Dicka gave the home side the breakthrough in the 28th minute and followed it up with another goal three minutes before the half-time break. Later, Chinglensana added a third in the 70th minute to seal the tie for the hosts.

For Mumbai, Karan Sawhney scored the lone goal in the 56th minute.

Mumbai started the proceedings on a positive note, creating several chances in the early moments. The home side were left doing the defending job for the most part of the first 30 minutes but things made a paradigm shift thereafter.

A counter attack by Lajong in the 25th minute saw Samuel Shadap's chip shot being somehow tipped over by goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani.

Just when Santosh Kashyap's boys looked like getting back into the tie with a couple of decent raids on the opposition half, Dicka killed the first half contest with his second strike in the 42nd minute.

Following a Mumbai defensive lapse, Dicka was left alone on the left and went past the advancing goalie to convert with ease.

The Mumbaikars had their hearts in their mouth when Issac hit the top of the crossbar in first half stoppage time. The two sides went into the break with the score 2-0 in favour of Lajong.

Crossing over, despite the initial pressure exerted by the home side, Mumbai chipped in a goal against the run of play with super-sub Karan Sawhney converting one from close range.

Hopes of a strong Mumbai comeback was, however, shattered in the 70th minute when Chinglensana netted the third goal for Lajong. Chinglensana spun over to put the ball into the back of the net following a corner kick much to the delight of the 5000-strong home crowd.

Things became worse for the visitors when their custodian Laxmikant Kattimani was shown the red card for handling the ball outside the box.

10-man Mumbai could hardly muster any trick further to stage a comeback as Lajong happily grabbed full three points from their second win in as many games.

Following the victory, Lajong catapulted to the fifth spot in the league table while Mumbai slipped to sixth.

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Later in the day, Chennai City FC notched up their maiden victory in the I-League with a 2-0 drubbing of high-flying Aizawl FC 2-0 in a scintillating encounter at Chennai's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Two second half goals from Marcos Tank (53rd minute) and Charles D Souza (90+3) ensured that Chennai City secured three points from their home match.

Coach Robin Charles Raja made two changes in the Chennai City lineup with Darrein Caldeira and Abhra Mondal coming in.

The big news was the omission of Karanjit Singh who apparently picked up a niggle. Captain Dharmaraj Ravanan was ruled out and Haroon Amiri stepped up in the defense besides Echezona.

Aizwal coach Khalid Jamil, meanwhile, opted to go in with the same team that started in the win against Mumbai FC.

The game started on a drab note with both sides sending across a plethora of long balls and forward moves. It seemed Aizawl and Chennai City were trying to build some rhythm without much effect.

The first chance of the game, though, went Chennai City's way when Raju's good cross into the box fell to Edwin on the edge of the area. The winger, though, completely miscued his attempted volley.

Chennai's Brazilian forward Charles de Souza then missed a sitter in the 30th minute. Marcos Tank did well to maneuver some space for himself down the left and delivered an accurate cross which only needed a touch by Charles from point blank range. But the forward tried a scissor kick and miscued the ball.

Though Aizawl slowly grew into the game, there were no other clear cut opportunities for both teams as the first half ended scoreless.

The second period started with Chennai City on the ascendancy and the home side grabbed the lead in the 53rd minute out of nowhere.

A ball forward was picked up by Tank who was at least 25 yards out from goal. But the Brazilian paused and struck towards the Aizawl goal. The shot had pace and it dipped into the net over the goalkeeper who did not move a muscle.

Aizawl were shocked by that goal and started attacking with vibrancy and had chances to equalise. Al Amna's top-corner bound shot was palmed over by Abhra Mondal before Lalruatthara headed a cross onto the cross bar, much to the frustration of coach Jamil.

But the game would see dramatic moments in injury time. First, Chennai City were awarded a penalty after Kingsley brought down Charles who received the ball inside the box after a fantastic corner.

The referee pointed to the spot and Charles stroked the ball down the middle to seal the tie for Chennai City.

But there were ugly scenes in the immediate aftermath as Prasanth was tackled by Kingsley on another counter which led to the Chennai players taking offence. It sparked a huge melee with almost all players getting involved in it.

Kingsley and Lalruatthara picked up bookings for the same while Amiri also went into the referee's book.