Confident Bagan take on SBT

MARCH 10: State Bank of Travancore's travails continue. Coach Najeeb is crestfallen as he is struggling to field an eleven which can take ...

MARCH 10: State Bank of Travancore’s travails continue. Coach Najeeb is crestfallen as he is struggling to field an eleven which can take on the muscle and skill of Calcutta powerhouses Mohun Bagan as the fourth National Football League caravan reaches here, at the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium, after a gap of 34 days.

Since they left the city after defeating Mahindras, SBT were forced to travel to Calcutta, Ludhiana and Goa twice apiece. And the match in Thrissur against FC Kochin was squeezed in between.

On that tour which gave them only one win, most of the players got injured and some fell sick. In their last match against Salgaocar in Goa a couple of days back, Najeeb had to field a side without eight regular players.

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SBT are finding problems in the defence which was once their forte. “That area has let us down badly in several matches. Our schedule was so cramped that I had little time to solve it. Now, I’m focussing more on the last two matches against ITI and Dempo rather than against Bagan.”

On the other hand, the visiting coach Subrata Bhattacharya is facing little problem. “The stadium is not well maintained. Adjusting to the turf will be the only problem,” he said after the training session. He also revealed that Stephen Abarowei will be sitting out with two yellow cards. His position will be taken by Dipendu Biswas, alongwith Uzbekistan recruit Igor Skhvrin, and Brazilian Jose Barreto.

The coach is full of praise for the Brazilian. “The chap is an all-rounder. He runs from midfield to the back to help the defence and in quick time gets back to score. Igor’s conversion rate is great. He has scored seven from eight matches.”

The match will be the 20th for both teams. Bagan lead the table with 41 points while SBT have 20.

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