Chennai City face an uphill task against rejuvenated mariners

by Chittu Shetty February 6, 2018

A rejuvenated Mohun Bagan travel to Coimbatore to take on relegation-threatened Chennai City FC in the 2017-18 Hero I-League at the Jawaharlal Nehru.

After a dreadful first leg of the season where the team experienced a series of disappointing results, The Green and Maroons have finally found their form and are back in the title race. They have won two out of their last three matches which includes a brilliant derby win over rivals Kingfisher East Bengal and a 3-0 away win over Shillong Lajong.

Revenge will be on Bagan’s mind when they face Chennai City tomorrow. The club has lost only two matches in the season so far and one of those defeats came against V Soundararajan’s men at their home ground.

Incidentally, the defeat against Chennai on 2nd January marked the end of Sanjoy Sen’s three-year-long stint as Bagan head coach. Sankarlal Chakraborty took charges of the team thereafter.

Speaking about the first leg defeat, Sankarlal said, “I don’t think it was an upset. Chennai City played very well. But this can happen in a league. In the present situation, we don’t have an option. We have to win tomorrow. It will not be easy. They have a good combination of Indian and foreign players. Their coach is a very intelligent man.”

The Bagan coach continued, “We have to special plans. Our aim is to earn maximum points from every match. In the current situation, every match for us is a final match.”

It is a must-win game for both the sides but for different reasons. While a win would keep Sankarlal’s in the title race, three points would push Chennai out of the relegation zone and send them to the seventh position in the league table.

Since their win in Kolkata, Chennai City have managed four draws and conceded two defeats. Speaking about his team’s preparation ahead of the match, coach V Soundararajan said, “We defeated Mohun Bagan with ten men. We understand that they will want to take revenge. They will go for the attack right from the kickoff whistle. We are eagerly waiting to face Mohun Bagan, one of the giants of Indian football. If we win against Mohun Bagan again, we get to do double.”

On asked about being in the relegation zone, the Chennai coach said, “If we can beat Mohun Bagan it will be better for us. The match against Churchill Brothers will be the deciding match. We obviously want to avoid relegation. We have to win matches, go all out.”

With their new found form, the Green and Maroons look very strong and are favourites to bag full points from this away fixture.