Kolkata : Nothing seems to be in favour of East Bengal ahead of I League derby on Saturday . After injuries to midfelder Sehnaj Singh , Cavin Lobo and Gurwinder Singh , the Red and Golds suffered another jolt as their Korean midfielder Do-Hyun-Dong injured himself in practice today . Although coach Biswajit Bhattacharya confirmed the injury is not serious but still clouds of doubt hangs over his availability in the derby. “ The injury is not serious . Dong has been suffering from this injury for the last few days. We do not want him to aggravate his injury practicing on the hard surface at the club ground . ”
Earlier the club had to shift their training owing to the hard club ground . The East Bengal coach was forced to shift their practice to Sailen Manna Stadium as Dong complained about training at the club grounds .
While arch rivals Mohun Bagan are in the process of organizing themselves , East Bengal looked a disjointed unit . It wore a picture of a hospital with key players being injured or not fully fit . Moreover the Red and Gold will have to catch up to do as they drew their last match against Mumbai FC at the Cooperage Stadium.
East Bengal’s new recruit Bernard Mendy still looks uncertain to play in the derby as it looks distantly impossible to get his visa on time . On being asked about Mendy’s availability East Bengal coach replied,” I don’t want to talk about a person who is unavailable. I will try to fight with the ammunition I have in the derby .”
So is it advantage for Bagan? “ I don’t separate Mohun Bagan from other teams. All the teams playing in the I league are strong and competitive .It’s going to be a very tough league this season .”
East Bengal outplayed Mohun Bagan 4-1 in the last derby played at the Salt Lake stadium . A brace from Do-Dong-Hyun helped the Red and Gold cruise to a convincing win . Biswajit assured ,“ It will be an entertaining match for sure as no one would want to leave empty handed . ”
Gurwinder Singh , who is out with an injury dropped in at the club tent .The defender from Punjab had a word of encouragement for his teammates . “I will regularly come to the ground to encourage my teammates.It does get a bit frustrating when you have to sit out.”
Apart from the injuries , coach Biswajit Bhattacharya’s concern will be the club ground as well as he would not like to add any further injury to the side . That will be a huge blow to his ambition of putting up a brave fight against the arch rivals who are looking a much stronger unit at least on paper .