Sports News | Leaders Mohammedan Sporting Face Winless Churchill, Aim for Fifth Consecutive Win
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. On a roll with four wins on the trot, local heavyweights Mohammedan Sporting will aim to continue that perfect record when they face a winless Churchill Brothers in an I-League fixture here on Wednesday.
Kolkata, Mar 15 (PTI) On a roll with four wins on the trot, local heavyweights Mohammedan Sporting will aim to continue that perfect record when they face a winless Churchill Brothers in an I-League fixture here on Wednesday.
The Black Panthers are coming from a 4-0 drubbing of Indian Arrows and are top of the 13-team standings, while Churchill Brothers are languishing at the bottom without a win from four matches.
For Mohammedan Sporting, forward Marcus Joseph has been in excellent touch, scoring a brace in each of his three appearances.
"We've played good organised football and obtained good results. When you do that, you become confident and other teams start to respect you," Mohammedan Sporting coach Andrey Chernyshov said.
Churchill Brothers, on the other hand, have endured back-to-back losses in their previous matches against Suvedha FC and TRAU.
"Losing two matches in a row has been a great setback. We have lacked a bit of concentration," said assistant coach Mateus Costa.
"We're not thinking about where we stand on the table and just taking it match by match,” he added.
Goalscoring has been a problem for Churchill, with striker Kenneth Ikechukwu scoring their only two goals so far.
Rajasthan hope to break into top half
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In the opening match of the day at Naihati, I-League Qualifier champions Rajasthan United will look to move into the top-half of the table when they face the young Indian Arrows.
The Rajasthan outfit are coming into the match after a goalless draw with Sudeva Delhi FC.
"We have two clean sheets and our team is looking solid. We are working to correct some mistakes. As a team, we want to attack more to create chances and score goals," Rajasthan United head coach Francesc Bonet said.
Reflecting on their poor show against Mohammedan Sporting in the last match, Indian Arrows head coach Shanmugam Venkatesh said: "It was a very good opportunity for the boys to play against Mohammedan Sporting.
"It was an opportunity for them to have experience playing against one of the best teams in the league. But, they are learning, I am happy how they are making progress."
Aware of the threats posed by their opponents, he said: "They are a good team. In the last two games, they got positive results. They have quality foreigners. Our boys are ready to play under pressure and we are looking forward to the match."
Kenkre up against rejuvenated TRAU
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Debutants Kenkre FC will look to turn around their fortunes when they face a rejuvenated TRAU FC in the concluding match of the day.
Having started off with a 1-1 draw with Real Kashmir, the Mumbai-based team has let in 10 goals in their last two outings against RoundGlass Punjab (0-4) and Gokulam Kerala (2-6).
But head coach Akhil Kothari believes these heavy defeats will not affect his team's morale.
"Our mentality has always been to fight for the points and play well and that is something we are not going to change," Kothari said.
TRAU, meanwhile, are fresh from their first win of the campaign against Churchill Brothers as they would look to continue their momentum.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)