Kolkata : Mohun Bagan will cross swords with Salgaocar FC in their second I League match at Barasat stadium on Saturday .The defending champions will look to extend their winning run . The Mariners kicked off the I-League with a 3-1 rout of debutants Aizawl FC at home last week, while the Goans suffered a 1-2 defeat to last season’s runners-up Bengaluru FC.
Mohun Bagan will further be bolstered by the inclusion of Brazilian defender Luciano Sabrosa as they will look to keep their winning momentum intact ahead of the much anticipated derby against East Bengal next week. According to coach Sanjay Sen ,“ It will be good to keep the winning momentum . I am focusing on tommorow’s Salgaocar match as we cannot afford to lose points at the beginning of the season . There are still a few more days to go for the derby .”
There will be more reason to rejoice for Mohun Bagan as their high profile Haitian forward Sony Norde is set to join Wednesday clearing air about his availability.
With no Norde for tomorrow’s fixture, the onus will be on Cornell Glen to score . The Trinidadian made a great debut for Bagan in the I League , scoring two goals against Aizawl FC . Meanwhile , Sanjay Sen might be forced to play Jeje who signed for the Green and Maroon yesterday as Balwant have a slight injury . “ Balwant have a slight injury , but will take a call only after assessing him before the match . As far as keeping Jeje in the playing XI is concerned , told him to be prepared mentally ” commented Sanjay Sen .
Mohun Bagan will go in with a 4-4-2 combination . Best goalkeeper of I League last season Debjit Majumder will be under the bars . The defence will have Pritam Kotal , Luciano Sabrosa , Kingshuk Debnath and Dhanachandra Singh . Katsumi Yuasa , Souvik Chakraborty , Pronay Halder and Azharuddin Mullick will make the midfield . Glenn will start with either Balwant or Jeje in the upfront .
Salgaocar will bank on Darryl Duffy who made a surprise start for the Greens with their foreigner duo of Martin Scott and Calvin Mbarga indisposed. Coach Malky Thomson went ahead with a 4-3-3 formation as Keenan Almeida, Nicolau Colaco, Gurjinder Kumar and Augustin Fernandes made up the defensive line while new signing Jackichand Singh, Alesh Sawant and Duffy were deployed as the attacking contingent as it would be intersting to see his ploy in the away match here.
Salgaocar will have to be watchful against conceding early goals something that led to their downfall against former Champions Bengaluru FC who struck through CK Vineeth in the fifth minute in their last outing. According to coach Malky Thomson ,“ We have a good side and I am confident of putting up a good show .