Pune FC out on a mission against East Bengal

Oct 29, 2012 |

IANS

Kolkata

Tags:

Pune FC will bank on the winning run and a fit squad ahead of their clash against East Bengal in the I-League football here Monday.

Currently fourth on the League table with six points from two games, Pune FC coach Derrick Pereira is aware of the job on hand and remains focused to build upon the advantage. In contract, East Bengal are in the seventh place and have four points in their kitty.

Following a light workout Sunday, the coach opined: East Bengal as a team is an experienced side. But in saying so, I also do believe we have an equally good side to match anybody and, God willing, we can get a good result.

For the mid-afternoon game Monday, Pune FC having included goalkeeper Abhra Mondal, striker James Moga and midfielder Arata Izumi in their 18-man squad will be eager to relive their last victory over the hosts way back in 2009-2010.

Kolkata-born Abhra replaces Amrinder Singh from the side that played last. In fact, Abhra returns to the squad for the first time nine months after he cracked his right-leg shin bone in Shillong.

Abhra’s inclusion to the squad will mean a lot for the player himself. He will gain the confidence needed after staying away for a long period. He has the experience for big match situations and moreover knows what one should expect in Kolkata, the coach said.

With options aplenty, Pune FC are expected to hand starts to some of its new inclusions. Upfront Moga, who resumed training with the side since a week, seems a certainly to play alongside Jeje Lalpekhlua, with the focus on breaking the three loss run to Trevor Morgan’s side at Kolkata in previous outings.

Moga’s possible inclusion is something the Pune FC coach prefers to hold back until match day.

Moga is a good player and what is left to be seen is how fast he can strike an understanding with striker Jeje and midfielder Douhou (Pierre). And if that fits in place we have a set side.

However, the one area the coach feels needs to step up is the backline. Our defence will need to tighten up a bit.

Post new comment

<form action="/comment/reply/198793" accept-charset="UTF-8" method="post" id="comment-form"> <div><div class="form-item" id="edit-name-wrapper"> <label for="edit-name">Your name: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="60" name="name" id="edit-name" size="30" value="Reader" class="form-text required" /> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-mail-wrapper"> <label for="edit-mail">E-Mail Address: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <input type="text" maxlength="64" name="mail" id="edit-mail" size="30" value="" class="form-text required" /> <div class="description">The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.</div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-comment-wrapper"> <label for="edit-comment">Comment: <span class="form-required" title="This field is required.">*</span></label> <textarea cols="60" rows="15" name="comment" id="edit-comment" class="form-textarea resizable required"></textarea> </div> <fieldset class=" collapsible collapsed"><legend>Input format</legend><div class="form-item" id="edit-format-1-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-1"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-1" name="format" value="1" class="form-radio" /> Filtered HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd></li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> <div class="form-item" id="edit-format-2-wrapper"> <label class="option" for="edit-format-2"><input type="radio" id="edit-format-2" name="format" value="2" checked="checked" class="form-radio" /> Full HTML</label> <div class="description"><ul class="tips"><li>Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.</li><li>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.</li></ul></div> </div> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="form_build_id" id="form-36e65a20826a5cce70a87adce9b10e0e" value="form-36e65a20826a5cce70a87adce9b10e0e" /> <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-comment-form" value="comment_form" /> <fieldset class="captcha"><legend>CAPTCHA</legend><div class="description">This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.</div><input type="hidden" name="captcha_sid" id="edit-captcha-sid" value="80695640" /> <input type="hidden" name="captcha_response" id="edit-captcha-response" value="NLPCaptcha" /> <div class="form-item"> <div id="nlpcaptcha_ajax_api_container"><script type="text/javascript"> var NLPOptions = {key:'c4823cf77a2526b0fba265e2af75c1b5'};</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://call.nlpcaptcha.in/js/captcha.js" ></script></div> </div> </fieldset> <span class="btn-left"><span class="btn-right"><input type="submit" name="op" id="edit-submit" value="Save" class="form-submit" /></span></span> </div></form>