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Riding on their dominant performance in last Saturday’s Pune derby, Bharat FC will look to earn maximum points as they take on East Bengal FC at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Mhalunge-Balewadi on Wednesday night. The Hero I-League encounter will kick-off at 7 pm and will be telecast live on Ten Action.
Only two points separate Bharat FC from East Bengal FC and a win for the Lions will see them leapfrog their illustrious rivals from Kolkata. The Lions come into this match having tasted defeat just once in their last five outings. East Bengal, on the other hand, has endured a rather wretched run of form, losing two games in succession against Mohun Bagan AC and Royal Wahingdoh FC. Bharat FC is eighth in the Hero I-League with 11 points from their 10 games. East Bengal currently occupy sixth place with 13 points from 10 games.
Bharat FC’s head coach Stuart Watkiss said that he was confident that his side would put up a determined display on Wednesday night and would draw a lot of confidence from the performance that the Lions’ put up in the Pune derby.
“East Bengal is a very important game for us. They are a very good side and will come hard at us. However, I think the lads have shown that they have the potential to raise their game for big matches. Bharat FC was the more aggressive side in the Pune derby, constantly harrying the opposition, playing effective and quick football. We want more of the same on Wednesday,” he said.
Bharat FC employed a 3-5-2 formation in the Pune derby and Watkiss said that he would prefer to play the same way against the side from Kolkata. “Our wide men did well against Pune FC. Our defense held its shape well and we fed our two strikers regularly. It was quite an encouraging display and the more we play this system, our sharpness will increase,” he said.
Mehrajuddin Wadoo will miss the clash against East Bengal FC after picking up two yellow cards in the previous match. New Zealand international and Bharat FC’s top scorer this season, Kris Bright, has recovered from the head injury that he sustained in the match against Pune FC and is expected to be named in the match-day squad.
East Bengal will be without their first-choice goalkeeper Subhashish Roy Chowdhury due to a long term injury. Veteran shot-stopper Abhijit Mondal will don the gloves for East Bengal.
Eelco Schattorie, the East Bengal FC head coach, said he expected a good open match and a positive result would do wonders for his team’s morale. “Bharat FC are a good side. They are very well organized defensively and threatening on the counter-attack. We need to guard against that. However, I believe that we have the ability and personnel to get us a positive result,” he said.
