Margao: Having climbed to third place after beating Churchill Brothers, Mohun Bagan are now looking to keep the winning momentum going when they take on Sporting Clube de Goa on Thursday in the 15th round of the I-League, played at the Nehru Stadium.
Odafe Okolie who scored a hatrick helped his team to come from behind and beat Churchill Brothers to stay above them with 27 points from 14 matches, three points clear of them who are fourth with 24 points.
East Bengal who played one match more are placed second with 30 points from 15 matches, the same as Dempo who still remains on the top because of head on count, after having beaten East Bengal in the first leg.
"The win against Churchill Brothers is important to us as we climbed to third place and also disposed Churchill Brothers to fourth place who are another title contenders for the title race. The boys are playing well and now need to maintain the consistency which is very important as we have 12 more matches to play," stated Bagan Technical Director Subrata Bhattacharya.
Sporting are a good side who have drawn with us at home and we need to be watchful and play to our potential and collect full points, summed up Bhattacharya.
Sporting Clube were off to a good start remaining unbeaten in the first six round, but then lost their way with their strikers unable to score which saw them lose the last seven matches of the first leg to place themselves to ninth place with 17 points from 14 matches.
They have now recruited Korean striker Park Jae-Hyun who is most likely to play on Thursday alongside James Morgan.
The first round match between the two in Kolkata had ended in a draw and Sporting Clube de Goa is hoping that his team rises up to the challenge and beats them which is essential to keep themselves above the relegation zone.
Sporting’s coach Ekendra Singh knows that Thursday’s match is tough especially after their opponent confidence having gone up after they beat Churchill Brothers.
"We come here with a win against Pailan Arrows and it will help our boys to remain more positive. We have no injury worries and all players are raring to go and hopefully we will put it across our rivals and win tomorrow," said Angelo Albuquerque, Sporting’s manager.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 17:01