Mahindra to clash Sporting in the NFL tie in Goa tomorrow

Margao, Apr 27 (UNI) A keen contest is on the cards when title aspirant Mahindra United face a spirited Sporting club de Goa in the second leg of the ONGC Cup National football league championship match to be played at Nehru stadium Fatorda here tomorrow.

Both the teams appear to be well balanced sides. Mahindra, who fought gallantly before losing by a lone goal to Bahrain's Al Muharraq in the AFC Cup tie on Tuesday, however, have to pull up their socks and convert their chances into goals .

Sporting, placed fifth in the league table with 19 points from 11 outings with five wins, four draws and two losses, will be going all out for a win to improve their position.

Mahindra, placed second with 26 points below table toppers East Bengal(28), are seven points ahead of Sporting club de Goa. Full points will keep jeepmen in the hunt for top placing. It will also be a revenge tie for the Mumbai team, who had lost to Sporting by 0-1 in the first leg in Mumbai.

Mahindra coach Derrick Pereira's main worry is the forward line as their key striker Brazilian Jose Rameraz Barreto had a hamstring injury,and he will be a doubtful starter tomorrow. He said Sporting is a good side with two Nigerian forwards Dudu Omaghbemi and Edeh Chidi, both combining well upfront.

Pereira was confident that his team will perform well tomorrow though a few players have some injuries.'' Boys know that it is a crucial fixture and they will definitely put up a good show and emerge winners,'' he said.

Sporting coach Clifford Chukuwama was optimistic of winning, saying his team would go all out for a win.'' Our first task will be to get the better of Mahindra tomorrow and snatch points as we have beaten them in the first leg and need to win all the remaining matches to catch with the table toppers East Bengal as we are also in the race for the title,'' the coach added.

The home team have a good attacking line up spearheaded by Dudu Omaghbemi. Helping him upfront will be Edeh Chedi or Nicholas Borgues, but the trio will have to work hard against jeepmen strong defence led by Mahesh Gawali, Deepak Mandal, Surkumar Singh and Peter Siddique.

Mahindra will have to once again depend on Ghanian Yakubu Yusif and K Anees to lead the attack along with Sushanat Mathew, Subhas Chakroborty, S Venkatesh and Stevan Dias in the middle. If they feed well upfront and forward bang the target, it will not be difficult task for jeepmen to win the match.

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