The competition has reached its halfway stage and Goal picks the best eleven players from the action so far.

Debjit Majumder: The former East Bengal goalkeeper has been putting in consistent performances for Mohun Bagan for more than twelve months now. His sublime reflex and anticipation make up for his short stature and the Hindmotor lad has left all the other I-League goalkeepers light years behind him. Majumder's key attribute has been his excellence in one-on-one situations, with opponent strikers finding it almost impossible to have a look at the target.

Rino Anto: Bengaluru FC haven't been miserly at the back as was the case in the last two seasons, but Rino has been one of the few bright spots. The former Mohun Bagan player had a decent Indian Super League (ISL) campaign with Atletico de Kolkata and has upped his performances this season under the tutelage of Ashley Westwood.

Bello Rasaq: The centre-back continues to showcase his class after scoring a late goal in the title-decider last season. The Nigerian's form in the Calcutta Football League (CFL) had raised eyebrows, but Bello has been rock-solid at the back in the top-flight league. The Red and Golds have conceded only four goals in their eight matches and now have the best defensive record in the competition.

Kinshuk Debnath: Arguably the best Indian footballer of the season so far, Debnath remains the unsung hero in Mohun Bagan's title charge. With Pritam Kotal suddenly facing a slump in form and Luciano Sobrosa not being at his best, Debnath has been instrumental in the Mariners' keeping four clean sheets this season. The former United Sports Club defender's name will always remain in the record books for being the first Indian footballer to win the I-League and ISL in a single season, but Indian football fraternity must take note of the sublime performances the diminutive defender has been putting in the last couple of years.

Pronay Halder: The latest Indian footballer to join the crore club has been an omnipresent figure in the Mohun Bagan midfield. The India international was deployed in a three-man defense by FC Goa coach Zico, but returned to his peak after he was reinstated in midfield by Sanjoy Sen. The Barrackpore born footballer has been physically assertive and has lunged in with nasty challenges at times to stamp his authority on the game. Bengaluru FC missed out on him and his prized signature certainly seems to be one of the best moves by Bagan.

Nicholas Fernandes: The Sporting Clube de Goa player has scored the fastest goal of the season so far and he makes it into this team as the customary U-22 player. One of the finds of the season, the midfielder has started in all of the eight games and has scored a couple of goals to help Sporting seal a top four spot at the halfway mark.

C.K.Vineeth: The Kerala-born attacker has impressed all and sundry with his power-packed performances. He has already scored three goals this term despite making only five starts. The former United Sports player had finished as the highest Indian scorer in the 2012-13 season and can repeat his feat once again this year if Westwood provides him with some more playing time.

Bikash Jairu: The Sikkimese winger has been East Bengal's unlikely messiah this term and has chipped in with consistent performances whenever Ranti Martins has found the going tough. The former Salgaocar player has spearheaded the club's attack along with the Nigerian, when the other strikers at the club have not been amongst goals.

Darryl Duffy: The former Swansea City striker's Indian sojourn has swayed between tons of goals and lengthy spells on the sidelines. Luckily for Salgaocar, the Scot was fit just in time for the league and has been in rich vein of form ever since. Duffy is currently the highest scorer in the competition with eight goals to his name and has also scored in six different matches. Salgaocar's early season sufferings have seen them miss out on the title charge but Duffy will continue to be their most important player as the Greens fight for a respectable finish.

Ranti Martins: The league's all time highest scorer has made it to these kinds of lists umpteen times during his time in India. This season also, he has already scored seven goals including a hat-trick against Shillong Lajong and a strike in the Kolkata derby against Mohun Bagan.

Sony Norde: Arguably the most exciting footballer in the I-League, Sony doesn't have the numbers like Duffy and Ranti, but has cast a bigger influence on the league table with his moments of brilliance. Deployed on the left wing, he has stretched the full-backs and left them for dead on several occasions with his brilliance making life simpler for the likes of Jeje Lalpekhlua and Cornell Glen. While Norde failed to shine against East Bengal, his brilliant performance against Bengaluru FC gave the Green and Maroons a clear upper hand in the title race.

Reserve Bench: Vishal Kaith (Shillong Lajong, U-22), Pratik Chowdhuri (Mumbai FC), Dhanachandra Singh (Mohun Bagan), David Lalrinmuana (Aizawl FC), Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal), H.Lalmuankima (Aizawl FC), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Mohun Bagan).

I-League: Shillong Lajong - DSK Shivajians Preview: Goal-shy sides play immediate reverse fixture

Having played against each other last Sunday in their previous game, both sides will look to break their low goal-scoring trend, this time in Shillong..

Fifth place Shillong Lajong host bottom club DSK Shivajians in an I-League encounter, on Friday.

The two sides went head-to-head against each other in their previous at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, which ended at 1-1. Uilliams Souza put Lajong in the lead with a third minute strike and his side led the game for the majority of its duration until Asier Dipanda scored in the 60th minute to put the Red and Whites level.

The league's newcomers are placed at the bottom of the table with five points from eight games, having lost five games thus far. DSK is on the hunt for their second win of the season.

DSK Shivajians have improved their attacking performances in the past couple of games, courtesy of skipper Dipanda’s resurgence. However, they seem to lack experience, particularly in defence, as they have been broken down far too easily at times. Derrick Pereira’s side will look to produce an encouraging performance away from home, something they have struggled to do throughout the campaign.

The onus will be on Dipanda yet again to convert chances. Midfielder Douhou Pierre has also looked potent going forward and has one goal to his name this season. A big miss however will be Subrata Paul, who is out with a finger injury. It will be interesting to see how Derrick Pereira handles the absence of Paul’s experience against a side that has performed well at home.

According to the DSK coach, the target is to build a team and to compete against the best in the I-League. He also said, “We want to do well as a team and my target was to finish in top half.”

However, if DSK needd to get out of their gauntlet of underperformance, the rest of the squad needs to step up, irrespective of the absentees and their problems.

Shillong Lajong haven't scored many goals this season but have made the most of the occasions on which they did manage to find the back fo the net. Despite scoring just the four goals in eight games, they made sure that those goals led to points.

A couple of 1-0 wins at home and away draws at Mohun Bagan and DSK Shivajians has ensured that they sit at a respectable fifth position, above I-League regulars like Mumbai FC and Salgaocar FC.

Lajong have a couple of injury concerns as well. Fabio did not feature against DSK Shivajians in Pune and sources inform Goal that a call will be taken on the forward’s role on Friday on the club doctor’s word. The absence of the Brazilian could be a set-back to the goal-shy North-East side.

Thangboi Singto feels that his primary concern is goals.

“Goals give you points and we have not been able to score many goals this season. Hopefully this changes in tomorrow’s match," he said at the pre-match press conference.

Japenese defender Yusuke Yamagata did not feature in Pune and it will be interesting to see if he is given the nod to start against an injury hit and downbeat DSK side.

With both teams struggling in front of goal and missing personnel in key areas, football fans in Shillong might just be in for yet another low scoring encounter. Having faced-off in just the previous fixture, the two managers understand each other’s playing styles and the team that has picked up more from proceedings in Pune, will be at an advantage in Shillong.

Kick off at 7:05 PM IST.

Player	Goals	Apps
D. DUFFYStrikerSalgaocar	8	8
R. MARTINSStrikerEast Bengal	7	8
O. OKOLIEStrikerSporting Goa	5	8
C. GLENNStrikerMohun Bagan	4	8
C. VINEETHMidfielderBengaluru	3	8