Dempo take on East Bengal in I-League

Margao: Defending champions Dempo would look to repeat their good performance against East Bengal in the one-off Super Cup match last week as the two sides meet again in the second round of the I-League on Wednesday.

Both the teams did not get the right start they wanted in their respective I-League opening matches. East Bengal managed to scrap past debutant ONGC by a solitary goal through their Australian striker Tolgay Ozbay while Dempo had to split points with Churchill Brothers after taking the lead. Dempo, in spite of their six regular players at the national training camp in Dubai and a couple of them on the injury list, put up a good performance against East Bengal to lift the Super Cup. Coach Armando Colaco is hoping that they repeat the same performance tomorrow against the Kolkata outfit to collect full points. Joaquim Abranches and Joe Rodrigues, who got themselves injured against Churchill Brothers, are the latest casualties and won`t be playing on Wednesday. The growing list of injured players has been the worrying factor for coach Armando Colaco who is trying to maintain his side at the top until his six players return from the Asian Cup in January. Dempo`s midfield lacked the creativeness against Churchill Brothers and Ogba Kalu will have to take more load in spearheading the attack in the absence of Roberto D`Silva who has not trained with the team for the last couple of weeks. Ranty Martins, who scored a hat-trick in the Super Cup, is in good form and Dempo would be looking to him to score goals. Trevor James Morgan has already set the ball rolling for East Bengal by winning three trophies with the red and gold brigade. East Bengal started their I-League campaign on a winning note although they did not impress themselves and Morgan is confident that his team will continue their winning ways on Wednesday. "Dempo is a good side who has played and stayed together as a team for the last five years and have won four trophies during that period. They hold the psychological advantage over us for having beaten us in Super Cup and playing at home. But that is a different ball game. We have come here to win and we are prepared to collect full points," stated Morgan. PTI