SBT desperately chasing a victory

SBT desperately chasing a victory
SS Manoj

Thiruvananthapuram, February 13: State Bank of Travancore (SBT) desperately need to get out of the quagmire when they take on Mahindra United, Mumbai, on the morrow in a seventh round match of the National Football League here.

Not only SBT are at the bottom of the table, the bankmen are also under psychological pressure with not a single win against their name. Their fans expect nothing short of victory here at Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium.

Any error would be costly for the home team as they might have learnt from their first match at home against JCT. Botching a lead in the last few minutes due to a defensive lapse gave the Phagwara team a draw and a point.

Tactically, SBT have to improve and play consistently with positive attitude as their buzzword. The fan support which is fast eroding should be stymied.

It is early stages of the NFL and there are another 15 matches to play. To say SBT are facing the relegation threat is nothing short of side-stepping the hosts who finished a creditable ninth place last year.

SBT coach Najeeb expectedly said that past is past and ``Mahindra and Wednesday is another team and another day. We have learnt our lessons and will tide over this bad phase." SBT are likely to shore up their defence bringing in Rajeevkumar as goalie and Pual Antony as defender.

SBT's rivals too face a similar situation.

The Mumbai outfit was given a overhaul at the beginning of the season. With a new name and still on a buying spree in the midst of the NFL, the costliest club in the country, result-wise have almost come a cropper.

Mahindra United bought players worth nearly Rs two crore. Latest addition being Gholam Reza from Iran's second division club Niroo-E-Zamin and will make his debut here as defender. His another teammate Davoud Hosseini has already played three matches as a mid-fielder.

Nigerian recruits -- defenders Christopher and Habib Adenkunle with Tapan Ghosh and Anthony Pereiera will form a forte before Virender Singh, who is also the Indian custodian.

Aqueel Ansari -- the fly-weight midfielder who led Maharashtra to Santosh Trophy triumph in Thrissur last year have a job of providing precision passes to upfront with Khalid Jamil, Khalil Siddique or Shamzi Reza if he recovers from fever.

The absence of Abbas Ali Rizvi, Mohammed Najeeb, Nithin Pradhan upfront due to injuries might force coach Shabbir Ali to bring S Venkatesh or Abhay Kumar to play with Raman Vijayan and Manjit Singh.

"It was the injuries to my strikers that have cost us matches in Durand Cup, Rovers Cup and in the NFL," explained Shabbir, a former technical director of the Indian team. It is time for him and his boys to deliver the goods. SBT have faced Mahindra twice in the NFL and the results were even with both winning their home matches.

The Mumbai team have six points from six matches with just one win and three draws while SBT have only three points from half-a-dozen matches.