MUMBAI, JAN 28: Revenge will be uppermost on Air-India's mind when they lock horns with National Football League (NFL) debutants Tollygunge Agragami in their return Group A match at the Cooperage tomorrow.The Calcutta outfit had made a sensational start to their NFL campaign when they drubbed Air-India 3-0 in their first encounter of the league earlier this month.A solitary goal victory over Dempo Sports Club at Margao in their last match which was their first win after four defeats on the trot gives an indicator of their turnaround in fortunes. And they would be desperately seeking to garner full points from Friday's duel to be staged on their home turf.Tollygunge are no pushovers either. They have yet to lose a game and are enjoying a dream run in the league tallying nine points from five games.Air-India coach Bimal Ghosh sounded confident of producing a better performance while speaking to The Indian Express this evening. ``We are going to play to a plan and hope not to repeat themistakes we had committed in the first match against them.''Ghosh had made wholesale changes against Dempo and is again banking upon such a strategy to unsettle Tollygunge. ``After four consecutive defeats, I badly needed a change and I tried whatever I had at my disposal. I brought changes at all the four positions.''Firstly, he changed his 'keeper and brought number three - Partha Das - who was exceptional in the Santosh Trophy but was nursing an injury. The defence line-up read - Henry Picardo and Subir Sinha as wing backs and Khambiton Singh and Radhakrishna Dubey as stoppers.``I wanted to break the jinx of four losses so I decided to attack from the beginning,'' said Ghosh who asked medio Khalid Jamil to don the role of a striker with the speedy Abbas Rizvi. ``And Khalid (Jamil) did a satisfying job,'' he said.If Ghosh is relying on his latest stratergy of switching players positions for success, his counterpart Amal Dutta of the Diamond fame has devised the box formation to scriptTollygunge's superb display in the league so far.A blend of youth and experience, Tollygunge comprises of four junior India players and have the experience of Sumit Mukherjee under the bar and veteran Nigerian Chibuzor.Sri Lankan striker Roshan Perera and seasoned Chibuzor are in great form and are capable of piercing through any defence. And Bastab Sen with tremendous stamina is competent to assist the attack and defenders.Reflecting upon their earlier encounter against Mohun Bagan, Dutta opined: ``We could have won the match against Bagan but my strikers missed couple of sitters. But still I am happy at the way the boys are performing and hope they will continue to do so tomorrow.''The ex-Bagan coach, however, was not pleased with the ground conditions. ``The field condition is obnoxious. The mid-field is like a bald head where the ball bounces a lot and is difficult to control. I wonder why the AIFF gave us a match here?''Dutta's comments on the ground conditions might spark a furore amongthe football fraternity here but for the moment it is left to Air-India to provide a fitting reply.
