Ten minutes later, Doe headed a Faiaz cross clear, but only as far as Nikhil Kadam, 30-35 yards outside the Shillong penalty area. Nikhil trapped and unleashed a curling left-footer which beat Lachenpa all ends up and went in off the underside of the bar and came out. After some initial confusion, referee Santhosh Bhaskaran rightly blew to signal Mohun Bagan were 2-0 ahead.

The excitement continued as in the 25th minute, Bhaskaran adjudged Kingshuk Debnath to have brought down Samuel inside the Bagan box and pointed to the spot. Samuel’s shot was saved by the experienced Bagan keeper Shilton Paul.

In the 28th minute, however, Shillong got their goal back, when a chip from the mid-field found Samuel inside the box, whose lobbed volley while going to ground and with his back to the goal, was headed over Shilton’s hands by an onrushing Koffi.

A young Shillong side’s game was clearly in the ascendancy in the first quarter of the second half as they were attacking purposefully and created a few good chances. All that changed in the 60th minute, when talented right back Arijit Bagui on the overlap, floated in a cross aimed at Moghrabi inside the Lajong box.

Both Akram and Doe went for the ball with different purposes, but unfortunately for Doe, his header in trying to clear the ball lodged inside the Shillong goal. Sk Faiaz was adjudged the man of the match and he received a cash prize of Rs 25,000 from Odisha Assembly Opposition Leader Narasingha Mishra.
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TOP: Players of Mohun Bagan pose before their quarterfinal match against Shillong Lajong FC in Bhubaneswar on April 11, 2018.
RIGHT: Players of Shillong Lajong FC pose before their quarterfinal match against Mohun Bagan in Bhubaneswar on April 11, 2018.