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Churchill Brothers Sports Club and Kingfisher East Bengal both have defensive concerns ahead of the team’s important I-League clash at the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Friday (January 27).
Churchill Brothers have lost two of their last three matches and coach Manuel Gomes is keen to break the trend. But the Portuguese coach will find it extremely difficult to contain the marauding rival strikers as he struggles to put up a decent defence.
Defenders Gouramangi Singh and Denzil Franco are both suspended with double bookings and the coach may have to bring in new faces to fill the void. One such player that the coach is banking on is Saran Singh who has not had much to do in League so far. Naveen Kumar Sudhakaran is expected to play at the centre of defence.
The coach will also be concerned by the continued absence of Lalrindika Ralte due to injury. Jerry Zirsanga is almost certain to be handed a place in the starting line-up.
The clash against East Bengal will be crucial to Churchill’s title chances and there is a general belief that another defeat could spell doom for the former champions.
East Bengal on the other hand, have given a good account of themselves but at times Trevor Morgan’s side has appeared sluggish. Inconsistency, too, has been a big bane.
“Yes, our performance has been inconsistent. We lost some of the matches which we should have won. But having said that, I think we are in a good position. Ideally, we would have loved to be at the top of the table by now. We need to stay focused,” Morgan told the-aiff.com in a previous interview.
The coach also has defensive concerns, something he intends to correct with the return of Nirmal Chettri. “Defensive organisation is an aspect we need to improve upon,” said the coach.
The kick-off is at 3.30pm.
FROM THE RECORD BOOKS:
· This will be Churchill Brothers’ 311th match in the NFL/ILEAGUE and they have scored 521 goals (Highest by any Club).
· This will be East Bengal’s 329th match in NFL/I League andthey have scored 475 goals so far.
HEAD-TO-HEAD:
Total Matches: 29
Churchill Brothers Won: 12
East Bengal Won: 10
Drawn: 7
Goals scored by Churchill Brothers: 38
Goals scored by East Bengal: 38
Result in first-leg:
Churchill Brothers 1 (ND Opara)
beat
Kingfisher East Bengal 0.
· Odafa Okolie has scored the maximum number of goals forChurchill Brothers (10) while for East Bengal, Alvito D’Cunha stay thehighest goalscorer with 5 goals.
· Yusif Yakubu is the only player to have scored for both sidesagainst each other. He scored 3 for East Bengal and 1 for ChurchillBrothers.
