Shillong, Oct 13: Nongkseh dug themselves out of a hole to beat Sawmer 4-2 after twice going behind in the first playoff of the SSA Super Cup 2026 at the SSA Stadium here on Tuesday.
Hardy Cliff Nongbri (54’, 71’) and Shano Tariang (67’, 69’) scored for Nongkseh, while Khrawkupar Tamu (37’P) and Bickyson Kharkongor (57’) did so for Sawmer in an entertaining opening match of the knockout tournament.
Nongkseh will thus progress to the semifinals where they will face Shillong Premier League 2026 champions Mawlai on Friday.
The Super Cup brings together the Top 6 SPL teams in a knockout format. Champions Mawlai and runners-up Shillong Lajong received direct entry to the semis.
Nongkseh dominated the opening stage of Tuesday’s match, which they were expected to do given that they finished the SPL 2026 in third place, with Sawmer down in sixth. However, apart from a Hardy header that went narrowly wide in the 11th minute they never really looked close to scoring.
After hardly getting any balls forwards, Sawmer suddenly burst to life when a Bickyson shot was blocked by Nongkseh goalkeeper Daraphun Talang in the 35th minute and, seconds later, a foul in the box led to a penalty; Khrawkupar sent the spot kick down the middle as Daraphun dived to the right.
Sawmer held on to their slender advantage going into the break but under 10 minutes into the second half Nongkseh equalised when Hardy headed in a ball that was the result of a corner.
But if Nongkseh thought the game had swung in their favour they were wrong, as Bickyson pulled out one of the most stunning goals of his career after he twisted and fired in a shot from the tightest of angles on the right flank – an impossible goal that somehow went in, to his great delight. Remarkably, Nongkseh had not conceded more than one goal in any SPL 2026 match but did so on Tuesday in the first game of the Super Cup.
Sawmer, however, could not keep this level of play up. The introduction of Shano led almost immediately to two quick goals, as he scored his first following a defensive error before left-footing a pass from Aenam Jyrwa for his brace.
That gave Nongkseh the lead for the first time and they did not let it go. In fact, Hardy made sure of victory when he took advantage of another defensive slip-up to score his second of the afternoon.
The second playoff will take place on Wednesday at 2:45pm between Langsning and Meghalaya Police. These two teams finished fourth and fifth respectively in SPL 2026 and the winner will face Lajong in the second semifinal on Saturday.