Northeast will resume its Indian Football League 2020-21 campaign after an 8-days break when they face Mariners in the Republic Day encounter.
Match Timings: Dec 26, 7:30 PM IST
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Northeast and Mohun B will face each other in Tuesday’s encounter in Indian Football League. Northeast are boosted after a much-needed victory over Jamshedpur in the last tie and they got enough break to prepare for this big clash. Gerard Nus was sacked few days ago and the start for the Highlanders was pretty decent through a compact display from its Portuguese winger Luis Machado. The first shot from Nerijus Valskis saved by Subhasish Roy Chowdhury. Jamshedpur got a scar in the 20th minute when Idrissa Siyalla got a chance from a corner-kick but TP Rehenesh made a fine save. Machado made yet another chance through an overhead kick but Rehenesh denied it by making another save. Northeast didn’t wait for the first goal and in the 36th minute, Ashutosh Mehta scored his maiden goal through Federico Gallego’s corner-kick. In the second half, substitute Deshorn Brown came close to double the lead but Rehenesh survived it.
Brown made the lead double for Northeast and Jamaican netted his first goal of the season. Jamshedpur was offered a good chance from Subasish Roy Chowdhury but Nerijus Valskis couldn’t grab it. Jamshedpur launched a late comeback as Peter Hartley scored the goal in the 89th minute but it was a delayed effort for the Red Miners. Northeast desperately needed these three points and with this victory, they moved to sixth in the table. Highlanders are now three points behind to 4th placed Hyderabad and one victory can take them closer to the playoffs spot.
Meanwhile, Mohun B had a mixed campaign in January 2021. They lost its top spot to Mumbai after suffering a defeat against Lobero’s side. In the last outing, they edged past two-times winner Chennai to earn three more points. It was an intense game of Football and both sides canceled out each other in both halves. When the match was heading towards a draw, David Williams struck the winner in injury time. David Williams replaced Carl McHugh in the 67th minute and finally, he got his name on the scoresheet in injury-time.
They picked the 8th clean-sheet of the season and it was the second victory that came in injury time. Kolkata giants have scored four goals in their last five matches, and surprisingly, all of these goals have come from dead-ball situations. Mumbai’s draw in the last game can help the Mariners to reduce its margin from the top spot. If they win, they can reduce the gap to three points. In the last meeting between both sides ended in Habas’ favour as Mariners cliched the full three points 2-0.
Possible Lineups & Current Form
Northeast
Gurmeet Singh; Ashutosh Mehta, Benjamin Lambot (C), Dylan Fox, Gurjinder Kumar, Rochharzela, VP Suhair, Khassa Camara, Lalengmawia, Idrissa Sylla, Luis Machado
Current form: W D L L D
Previous match: 2-1 victory against Jamshedpur
Mohun B.
Arindam Bhattacharya; Sandesh Jhingan, Pritam Kotal, Tiri, Subhasish Bose, Carl McHugh, Edu Garcia, Pronay Halder, Manvir Singh, David Williams, Roy Krishna
Current form: W D L W D
Previous match: 1-0 victory against Chennai
Key Players
Northeast
Luis Machado
3 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Idrissa Sylla
2 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Mohun B.
Roy Krishna
6 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
David Williams
2 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
