Shillong, Sep 28: In a remarkable performance, Nangkiew Irat came from a goal down to beat Malki 3-2 today at the SSA Stadium and thus move out of the Shillong Premier League’s relegation zone.
Lakhon Surong gave Malki the lead in the 28th minute with a header and goalkeeper Sbing Chyrmang then denied Damehun Syih from the penalty spot in first half stoppage time.
The script then went all awry for Malki in the second half, however, as Syih and William Pouliankhum scored back to back goals in the space of a minute to give Nangkiew a 2-1 lead.
Malki would then go on to earn a penalty of their own and this was converted by Ousseynou Kamara in the 76th, but the foreign defender conceded an own goal (according to the official results from the SSA) while trying to head away a free-kick in the 79th, although according to our footage it looked more like Nangkiew’s Geoffrey Massar headed the ball in.
This was only Nangkiew’s second win in 10 games, but it takes them to nine points and fifth place, two points ahead of Malki, who drop into sixth. Malki, however, still have a game in hand.
The first leg match between these two sides saw Malki ease to a 3-1 win last month and Malki would’ve hoped for a similar result in order to keep their hopes of a top-four place alive.
Things appeared to be going their way when Surong bagged the opener with a header off a corner kick taken by Alem Khongwir, with the No. 7 rising up to the ball and knocking it into the net.
Nangkiew almost managed to snatch the equaliser in the first half itself, but Syih’s penalty kick was gobbled up by Chyrmang with a dive low to his left.
The second half saw some early drama with Lambor Nongsiej and Kamara involved in a tussle that left the latter writing on the ground, but Nongsiej got away with just a warning from the referee.
In the 65th minute Syih was making a run on the right and must’ve have seen that Chyrmang was off his line. He then sent in a perfect long-range shot that dipped over the backtracking goalie for the equaliser.
Then, seconds after the restart Nangkiew grabbed the ball away from Malki and Pouliankhum took a long shot of his own that appeared to bounce awkwardly in front of Chyrmang and zip into the net in the 66th minute.
From wanting to run down the clock Malki went searching for an equaliser of their own and after the referee spotted a foul during a melee in the Nangkiew box Kamara converted the resulting penalty kick.
However, just three minutes later Nangkiew had a free-kick and, when going for ball, Kamara managed to head it into his own net. This also happened to be the 100th goal of the season and the fifth own goal.
Tomorrow at 4PM Rangdajied United and Shillong Lajong will play their game that was postponed from 19th September.
(TSR photo. Nangkiew Irat are in red, Malki in black)
