By Ajay Majumder
KOLKATA: Mohun Bagan will look to return to winning ways when they take on Tollygunge Agragami in the ongoing CFL Premier Division – A at Mohun Bagan Ground on Monday.
The Mariners are going into the game on the back of a goalless draw against Peerless SC last week while Tollygunge have endured back-to-back defeats in their last two fixtures. So it’s quite obvious that both sides will be looking for nothing but three points heading into the business end of the league.
Speaking ahead of the match, Mohun Bagan Coach Sankarlal Chakraborty said, “The last game against Peerless was a tough one. We had our chances but at the end it was our mistakes that proved costly, but there is still a long way to go and we are focussed on the task at hand.”
On the team news front, The Bagan coach is expected to shuffle his starting line-up as Tonmoy Ghosh could return into the starting XI while Daniel Bidemi is expected to pair Darryl Duffy upfront.
Tollygunge, on the other hand, stated their campaign with a lot of promise and even pulled off the first upset of the season when they beat a strong Mohammedan Sporting Club 2-1. But since then their performance level dipped as they suffered concecutive defaets in next two games against Aryan Club and East Bengal.
Facing Mohun Bagan, Tollygunge coach Ranjan Chowdhury will be relying on Nigerian striker Joel Sunday for goals upfront. Joining him will be the likes of Surabuddin Mallick, Phoolchand Hembrom and Reisangmei Vashum who would play a crucial role in the midfield while the experienced Kareem Omolaja Nurain will lead the back-line.
“The game against Tollygunge will not be a easy one. They have a very good squad with three veary good foreigners. But we have worked hard during the past week and are ready for the challenge.” coach Sankarlal added.
For the record, last time when these two teams faced off in the CFL Premier Division – A previous year, Tollygunge walked away with full three points despite losing the match 1-3 as Mohun Bagan played the last four minutes of the game without a U-23 player on the pitch violating the rules of the league.
