Mumbai FC look to kick start their campaign away to struggling Shillong Lajong

by Kaushal Shukla January 24, 2015

Mumbai FC will be looking to erase memories of last week’s disappointing defeat at the Salt Lake stadium as they travel to the chilly Shillong to face a Shillong Lajong outfit struggling for form.

Shillong Lajong are hurting from last week’s derby defeat to newcomers Royal Wahingdoh and have lost their last five games in all competition.

Mumbai FC too are on a back of some poor results, but have managed to win one and draw one in their last five outings.

Mumbai FC are likely to be without midfielder Paresh Shivalkar as he recovers from an injury. It will be interesting to see what side Khalid Jamil’s puts out after last week’s reverse as we may see some changes especially in defence where Justine Stephen had a bad game.

Mumbai FC will be banking on their start striker Josimar Da Silva to get them the goals as he opened his account scoring Mumbai’s only goal in last week’s 3-1 defeat away to Mohun Bagan.

Shillong Lajong were quite thoroughly outplayed by their crosstown rivals last week’s and that could affect T.Singto’s team selection. Shillong Lajong will depend on B. Haokip to provide the ammunition up front.

The visitors will also have to counter the cold weather along with the hostile environment which the Shillong Lajong supporters are known to produce.

Shillong Lajong on the other hand will have to deal with Rahul Bheke’s long throws ins which created lots of problems for Mohun Bagan last week.

The young Mumbai FC defender was in confident mood ahead of his side’s game in Shillong. “Shillong is a tough place to play. We are aware of the threat they pose, but I’m confident about my team and we can overcome any challenge thrown at us”.

His long throws have become a topic of worry for opposition coaches, and Rahul believes it is a result of practicing and sharpening a skill which he possessed from his childhood days.” I used to make long throws-in back in my days at Air India as a youngster too. So, now it’s become my style and I play this way in every game”.

Both teams will be looking to kick start their respective campaigns on Sunday and the pressure will high on the home side to produce a result on their own patch as going winless in two home games in a row could spell trouble for the Shillong side.

Mumbai FC are one a run of three away games and having lost the first one they will be looking to take some points to build on when their home games come around.