Dempo, East Bengal tie promises to be a keen affair

Margao, Apr 21 (UNI) Title contenders Dempo Sports Club, riding on the home advantage, will go all out to stay on top of the table when they cross swords with former champions East Bengal in their 15th round ONGC National Football League championship match at Nehru Stadium Fatorda tomorrow.

Durand Cup champion Dempo, who had put in a spirited fight to beat Churchill Brothers in the last match, tops the table with 26 points and really look impressive.

East Bengal, owing to their last two consecutive defeats at the hands of Churchill Brothers and Mohan Bagan, are presently placed third with 22 points from an equal number of matches. They will have to pull up their socks and play a more aggressive game to keep their hopes alive to regain the title.

The match promises to be a keenly-contested affair, more so since the clash for the title this year will be between Dempo (26), Mahindra United (26) and East Bengal (22).

Dempo's fortunes in the championship have mainly revolved around prolific forwards Renty Martin, Anthony Pereira, medio Roberto Silva and Clifford Miranda -- they have scored most of the goals for the Goan side so far. All eyes will be on Dempo's ace striker Renty Martin who has eleven goals to his credit.

East Bengal should be wary of the fact that Dempo have 15 goals against 27 in their own name. This also speaks about their strong forward and defence line. East Bengal have 21 goals in their name and 19 against.

Dempo coach Arman Colaco is worried about defender Majeck Bolaji who is nursing an injury and will be a doubtful starter tomorrow.

Even medio Peter Carvalho is injured. ''Our first aim tomorow will be to snatch full points against East Bengal and increase the points tally, to be more safer for the title,'' he said.

East Bengal too look menacing -- both on paper and performance.

They would be relying mainly on Edmilson Margues Pardal, who has eleven goals to his credit, and Boniface Ambani who has four goals in his name. Both will be spearheading the attack but will have to work hard against the strong Dempo defence led by Valeriano Rebello, John Dias and Samir Naik and will have to test goalkeeper Satish Kumar who looks in great form.

UNI