Upbeat JCT start favourites

CALCUTTA, MARCH 11: Jagatjit Cotton Textile JCT Mills of Phagwara should be feeling quite confident after beating Churchill Brothers 5-...

CALCUTTA, MARCH 11: Jagatjit Cotton Textile JCT Mills of Phagwara should be feeling quite confident after beating Churchill Brothers 5-0 in the first match of the second leg of the final phase of National Football League. Currently on seven points, they are favourites to collect full points against FC Kochin tomorrow at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium.

In the second match of the day at Salt Lake Stadium, both Churchill Brothers and Mohun Bagan have a chance to redeem themselves. Bagan have already been in trouble against the Ghanians in East Bengal side.

Tomorrow, the Churchill Ghanians might prove a handfull too. However, Churchill is not known to be a strong opponent outside Goa and keeping this in mind, Bagan might just have a psychological advantage.

Bagan are currently fifth on the points table while Churchill is second with 11 points. The Goan team will remain in that position, irrespective of the outcome of either games tomorrow.

The free-flowing JCT players were all over the Churchill defence on Tuesday. The even Salt Lake ground helped their game. However, it might be quite different at the Rabindra Sarobar. Moreover, the youthful FC Kochin are out of contention. Now, they will just go all out to improve their position on the table. The JCT defence might be required to do more work against FC Kochin then they had to perform against Churchill. Mid-fielders Ram Pal and Dipankar Roy will once again play crucial roles for the JCT. Both their forwards Jasvir Singh and Surjit Singh proved they were swift enough to beat the Churchill defenders. That would have given them a lot of confidence. JCT drew with FC Kochin in their first leg match.

Churchill will have to pull up their socks if they want to remain in contention. Bagan had a very scrappy match against East Bengal on Wednesday, displaying as poor a combination as Churchill. Both the teams8217; defences failed miserable and the Bagan midfield was almost non-existent. Their performances in the earlier matches have put them on an even footing and that should make the game interesting.