Oil India quit show as Shillong Lajong and 3 Star move into the semis

It was another packed day of action at the Bordoloi Trophy…

Oil India FC, Duliajan, Assam had a 3-0 victory over Barak Flamingoz, Nagaland while Shillong Lajong drew 1-1 against 3 Star Club of Nepal, in yesterday’s matches of the Bordoloi Trophy played at Nehru Stadium in Guwahati. In the first match between OIL and Flamingoz, OIL came close to opening its account through a spot-kick awarded to them in the 4th minute of the game, but thanks to Barak goalie James, who made a spectacular dive to his right stopping Nabin Rabhas’ shot from entering into the net, which denied the home team an early lead. But, it did not take long for OIL to find its first goal through Jayanta Basumatary in the 6th minute. Basumatary deceived the Barak defenders with his skill after receiving a pass from Mintu Boro in midfield and finally managed to beat James and slot the ball in. The Nagaland side almost found an equaliser in the 15th minute but again like previous games OIL custodian Nihal Das continued his spectacular show to deny Barak striker Nzauhut in a one-on-one situation. In the second half, OIL continued its dominance. Hardworking Mintu Boro found his first goal in the 50th minute of the match, receiving a perfect cross off Sunil Murmu from the left flank. Mintu came on the scoresheet again in 78th minute, Jayanta Basumatary's pass came to unmarked Mintu at the edge of the box and with a gentle push he gave his team a 3-0 lead. Later on the day, in the last match of Pool A played under floodlights, Shillong Lajong FC and Nepal 3 Star club settled for a 1-1 draw. With both sides already through to the semis the match was a dull affair. 3 Star even failed to score a penalty awarded to them in the 34th minute taken by Bimal Magor. Earlier, Lajong took the lead in the 27th minute off Milan Basumatary. Milan got the ball after goalkeeper Allon blocked a shot but failed to hold which Milan pushed gently in to the goal. The Nepal outfit found the equaliser in the 61th minute off Niranjan Khadka’s nice header from a perfect cross from the right flank. In the last day of the group stage for Pool A, three teams viz. Lajong FC, 3 Star and Oil finished on equal points having 5 each from 3 games. However, the goal difference statistics denied OIL from advancing to the last four stage making way for the other two teams. Photo: GoalNepal.com