Despite piling pressure on the visitors in the second period, the defending champions could only salvage a point against their north-east counterparts.
Mohun Bagan were held to a 1-1 draw by Shillong Lajong FC in an I-League clash in Kolkata on Wednesday evening. Konsham Singh (30') opened the scoring before Jeje Lalpekhlua (59') ensured that the points were shared between the two sides.
Thangboi Singto started with Uilliams Silva and Fabio Pena upfront with Penn Orji marshalling the midfield.
Sanjoy Sen meanwhile had Sarthak Golui on the right side of the defence while Kean Lewis was rewarded with his second start after his brilliant display against Bengaluru FC.
It was the away team who began the better of the two sides as Uilliams created havoc through the middle with the Mariners' defence looking unusually tentative.
With Katsumi Yusa starting in the centre of midfield along with Bikramjit Singh, Bagan were lacking an enforcer which was exploited well by Penn and co. in the opening exchanges.
One of Uilliams' forward forays in the fourth minute ended up with him being bundled over by Luciano Sobrosa just outside the box. However, Uilliams could only strike the resulting free-kick over the bar.
The hosts had a chance of their own in the ninth minute when Dhanachandra Singh rampaged forward, dribbling past Samuel Shadap before finding Cornell Glen inside the box. The Trinidad and Tobago striker spun well but his shot was just wide.
Bagan's defence was all over the place as Penn was given all the time and space to place his shot from outside the box, with the defenders backing off. However, the Nigerian smashed his effort wide.
A neat exchange of passes in the 17th minute between Glen and Jeje Lalpekhlua saw Bikramjit shoot wide from the edge of the box.
Lajong continued to run riot, with Uilliams leaving two for dead before picking out Pena with a lovely through ball only to see Bagan custodian, Debjit Majumder rush out and smother the ball.
The away side's defence resisted the Bagan threat in the 28th minute as they blocked successive shots by Jeje and Sony. On the counter, Uilliams again breezed past defenders before finding Fabio on the left. It was Debjit again who made himself large and parried Pena's shot behind for a corner.
Lajong deservedly took the lead on the half-hour mark. A corner towards the near post by Uilliams was directed towards goal by Aiborlang Khongjee and Konsham Singh was on hand to tap it into an open net. Sarthak Golui who was marking Konsham lost his man completely, allowing Konsham with the easiest of goals.
Two minutes later, Sanjoy Sen's men should've had an equaliser after Katsumi's corner could not be held on by Kaith, allowing Luciano to shoot. Norde tried to deflect the shot towards goal but saw his effort thwarted by Aibor on the line. Bikramjit's follow-up from range was then parried away by Kaith.
In the 36th minute, Norde left Shadap and Robin Gurung in his wake before he was dispossessed by Aibor in the box and Katsumi's shot was then blocked by Pritam Singh.
Dhanachandra then cleared another Lajong corner off the line on the stroke of half-time as the visitors went into the break leading 1-0.
Sanjoy Sen meanwhile had Sarthak Golui on the right side of the defence while Kean Lewis was rewarded with his second start after his brilliant display against Bengaluru FC.
It was the away team who began the better of the two sides as Uilliams created havoc through the middle with the Mariners' defence looking unusually tentative.
With Katsumi Yusa starting in the centre of midfield along with Bikramjit Singh, Bagan were lacking an enforcer which was exploited well by Penn and co. in the opening exchanges.
One of Uilliams' forward forays in the fourth minute ended up with him being bundled over by Luciano Sobrosa just outside the box. However, Uilliams could only strike the resulting free-kick over the bar.
The hosts had a chance of their own in the ninth minute when Dhanachandra Singh rampaged forward, dribbling past Samuel Shadap before finding Cornell Glen inside the box. The Trinidad and Tobago striker spun well but his shot was just wide.
Bagan's defence was all over the place as Penn was given all the time and space to place his shot from outside the box, with the defenders backing off. However, the Nigerian smashed his effort wide.
A neat exchange of passes in the 17th minute between Glen and Jeje Lalpekhlua saw Bikramjit shoot wide from the edge of the box.
Lajong continued to run riot, with Uilliams leaving two for dead before picking out Pena with a lovely through ball only to see Bagan custodian, Debjit Majumder rush out and smother the ball.
The away side's defence resisted the Bagan threat in the 28th minute as they blocked successive shots by Jeje and Sony. On the counter, Uilliams again breezed past defenders before finding Fabio on the left. It was Debjit again who made himself large and parried Pena's shot behind for a corner.
Lajong deservedly took the lead on the half-hour mark. A corner towards the near post by Uilliams was directed towards goal by Aiborlang Khongjee and Konsham Singh was on hand to tap it into an open net. Sarthak Golui who was marking Konsham lost his man completely, allowing Konsham with the easiest of goals.
Two minutes later, Sanjoy Sen's men should've had an equaliser after Katsumi's corner could not be held on by Kaith, allowing Luciano to shoot. Norde tried to deflect the shot towards goal but saw his effort thwarted by Aibor on the line. Bikramjit's follow-up from range was then parried away by Kaith.
In the 36th minute, Norde left Shadap and Robin Gurung in his wake before he was dispossessed by Aibor in the box and Katsumi's shot was then blocked by Pritam Singh.
Dhanachandra then cleared another Lajong corner off the line on the stroke of half-time as the visitors went into the break leading 1-0.
It was the Mariners who began the second period with greater urgency as Shillong looked to defend their advantage.
Jeje had the first pop at goal in the 51st minute as he tried to place it at the far corner from the left, after Sony Norde had found him in the box with a perfect pass.
Glen was withdrawn in the 54th minute after a disappointing outing with Balwant Singh introduced who immediately set about closing down the Lajong defence.
A minute later, Norde danced past his markers to get into the box before his shot was blocked by Aibor, allowing Kaith to parry it away.
In the 59th minute, Bikramjit found Jeje in the box whose first touch completely took Aibor out of the game, as he spun around and finished through the legs of a despairing Kaith.
In the 80th minute, the home side had two glorious chances. First it was Norde who played a lovely ball to an unmarked Jeje inside the box, only to see Kaith palm his snapshot over the bar.
From the ensuing corner, the ball came to Norde who put in a teasing cross to the far post where Balwant was lurking but with all the time in the world, his powerful header crashed off the bar.
In the 87th minute Dhanachandra ran onto a loose ball and smashed it narrowly wide.
With five minutes added on, Katsumi beat at least three men before being bundled over on the edge of the box. Norde's free-kick came out to Souvik whose volley was high and wide.
In spite of Bagan's dominance in the second half, Lajong somehow held on to earn a point.
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