Vasco to lock horns with East Bengal tomorrow

Panaji, Feb 13 : A keen contest is expected between Kolkata giants East Bengal and Vasco Sports Club when they clash in the 15th round of ONGC I League Football championship match at Nehru stadium, Fatorda, tomorrow.

Though both the teams have been inconsistent in their performance in the league so far, East Bengal holds the psychological edge over the home team as they had scored 2-0 win in their first leg clash.

However, they cannot afford to be complacent as Vasco, who had jajded lot in the first leg, started the second leg with improved performance and remained unbeaten in the last three outings.

Vasco had beaten Sporting club de Goa by solitary goal, and also drew with defending champions Dempo 2-2 and JCT with 1-1 in the first three second leg matches.

East Bengal, presently with 16 points from 14 outings including four wins and equal number of draws, are six points ahead of bottom placed Vasco Sports Club with only 10 points from two wins four draws.

The confident looking Vasco coach Elves Goes said his team will perform well tomorrow as it is playing better than in the first leg.

”Boys know that second leg is a crucial fixture for them and we need wins to improve our points tally to come out from the relegation zone,” he said.

The coach also said his team will put much better performance against East Bengal tomorrow than they what they displayed against Dempo in the last drawn match.

Midfielder Lester Ferandes, who is booked with double yellow cards and Elvin Ferandes, who had an ankle injury will not be playing tomorrow, the coach added.

Vasco will be relying on Uzbhikistan recruit Ravshan Tashabnew, Agnelo Colaco and Agnelo D souza in the front, Shrzod Nazarov, Minino Ferandes and Jose Colaco in the middle and Yorkin Nazarov in the defence. Goalkeeper Laximikant Kanttimani under the bar had also performed constantly well in the earlier outings.

East Bengal too boasts of the best attacking line up Yakubu Yusif, Sunil Chetri, Edmilson Margues, and new recruit Esmail Addo. Helping them in the middle will be Renedy Singh on whom visitors heavily depend.