Bengaluru down Lajong in I-League tie

Bengaluru Football Club (BFC) strengthened their grip on the second spot by defeating Shillong Lajong 2-0 in their I-League tie at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday evening.

Udanta Singh (36th minute) gave BFC the lead in the first half while Seong-Yong Kim (82nd) doubled the advantage towards the end.

Bengaluru have now narrowed the gap with league leaders and defending champions Mohun Bagan to just one point. They are on 21 points from 10 matches, with six games yet to go.

Lajong continue to be at the fifth spot with 11 points.

BFC dominated their opponents throughout the game with Curtis Osano, Michael Collins, Sunil Chettri and Udanta combining well to create all sorts of problems for the Lajong defence.

The visitors finally make the domination count when Kim deflected an Osano freekick to Udanta inside the penalty box. Udanta's initial attempt was blocked by Lajong goalkeeper Vishal Kaith. But Udanta did well to score off the deflection.

The visitors continued to dominate possession after the change of ends. Lajong were forced into defending their citadel for the most part although they did create a few chances with their fast counter-attacks. But they were let down by poor finishing.

Kim put the match beyond the hosts' reach when he headed in off a corner. Lajong striker Uiliams had perhaps the best chance for his team in second half injury time when he blasted a powerful shot over the crossbar. But that was the nearest the hosts could come to scoring as BFC walked away with the three points.