Lajong, Bagan set to open their I-league campaign

After a frustrating campaign at the Federation Cup last month, both teams are looking forward to open their accounts on a positive note.

Shillong's Lajong, placed 10th in the last season's table, are eyeing to finish at the first half of the table this year even as Bagan are a force to reckon with considering that they ended in the fourth position last season.

Given the favourable climatic condition and the state-of-the-art football turf at the J N Stadium here, both teams would eye to exploit their opponents' weaknesses after a not-so-successful outing in country's second most important football trophy, the Federation Cup.

The green and maroon brigade, under Santosh Kashyap as coach, are looking forward to a promising start as most of the players have more or less recovered from their injuries.

Kashyap said their foreign recruits, Tolgay Ozbey and Odafa Okolie, have been coping well and he hopes to make a winning start at the I-League.

Lajong, on the other hand, had recently signed Japan-born North Korean defender Minchol Son to boost their defence which has been considered a weak point in the last I-League season.

The club's new head coach, Desmond Bulpin, has also injected a rare energy into the boys and this was evident as they outwitted the Australian 'A' side Wellington Phoenix in the final of the triangular NE series held earlier this year.

Bulpin is likely to put his team into an attack mode right from the beginning with a 3-4-3 formation that would feature seven players in attacking front and seven at the back when the team comes under attack.