Rangdajied United's misery continued in Kolkata as the Shillong side went down fighting 2-1 to Mohammedan Sporting at the Salt Lake Stadium here today.
Ranti Martins put the visitors ahead in the 12 minute but the host came back strong and equalised through Taro Hasegawa in the 33rd minute before Luciano Sobrosa scored from the spot in the 62nd minute.
The result allows Mohammedan Sporting to do the double over RUFC and move up a place to 12th in the ranking.
Rangdajied, meanwhile, drop to the 10th place as Mohun Bagan, by virtue of the point earned against United SC, accumulate 25 points to go up to 8th.
The defeat today is a great setback for The Blues as they will now have to go into the Shillong Derby on April 21st with mountains on their head. Even a win in the derby will not ensure their survival as they will have to count into others' results as well.
However, coming into the match today, it was Rangdajied which started the brighter of the two. David Ngaihte, who got a start after a long time, was into the thick of things right in the 2nd minute when his shot sailed wide off the far post.
In the 5th minute, Elam Abocha did well from the midfield and tried to send in a through pass to Ranti which Luciano Sabrosa intercepted.
David Ngaihte, who was playing a free role just behind Ranti and Lalnunpuia, who was used in the midfield, combined very well. Their sleek one-two and speed caught the home side off-the-guard on couple of occasions even earning a free-kick in the process, which was clear easily.
The attacks paid dividends in the 12th minute, when the Goal Machine - Ranti Martins - scored his 8th goal for Rangdajied.
It was David Ngaihte again from the right who outpaced a defender to send in a cross at the far post for Lalnunpuia to do the scoring. But Puia's header was saved by Luis Barreto on which Ranti pounced over and slotted the ball into the goal.
