JOIN USBengaluru FC begin a slew of vital away games over the next two weeks with a trip to Goa where they take on bottom-placed Sporting Clube de Goa at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Saturday.
The Blues, who travel to play Mumbai FC on March 3 and Indonesian side Persipura Jayapura on March 10 in their AFC Cup campaign, will be keen to start the challenging schedule on the right note against a side that's yet to register a win in the League.
Ashley Westwood’s team put aside the disappointment of a 1-4 League defeat at Mohun Bagan to give Bengaluru their first win in Asian football – a 2-1 result over Maziya S&RC at the Kanteerava Stadium, on Tuesday. Shankar Sampingiraj scored a dramatic injury-time winner after Sunil Chhetri scored his second goal in as many games in a victory that Bengaluru will look to use as a springboard.
Though Bengaluru enjoy a 3-0 record over Sporting in all competitions, the Blues will be wary of the Goa club who will throw all they have in pursuit of their first win of the campaign. “Sporting Clube are a good side and capable of producing good performances as we saw in the 1-1 draw they had against Pune,” said a cautious BFC coach, Ashley Westwood, who is well awre of the fight the Goan side can put up.
“ Despite being a goal down, they clawed back into the game and for the last half hour, looked like the team that deserved the win. They have good foreigners among their ranks and though their position on the table isn’t the best, we know we will have to churn out a good performance to get something out of this game,” he added.
The Fatorda has been a happy hunting ground for the Blues who lifted the I-League and Federation Cup titles with wins at the Stadium and are yet to lose a game here. In fact, the last time the two teams met was at the same venue in the semifinal of the Federation Cup where Bengaluru came away with a 3-0 result.
On the injury front, Bengaluru seem to be without much worry. Sean Rooney, who missed a couple of games with a sore groin, made an appearance as a substitute in the AFC Cup win that also saw the return of Lalchhuanmawia and Rino Anto. A call on midfielder Joshua Walker, who limped out of the same game with a thigh strain, will be taken by Westwood on Saturday morning.
Mumbai beat Bharat
Mumbai FC recorded their third successive victory, and first away from home, when they outclassed debutants Bharat FC 2-0 in Pune on Friday.
Brazilian striker Josimar Da Silva scored from a penalty in the 36th minute before Sampath Kuttymani doubled the lead in the 73rd minute to put the issue beyond their opponents.
But for some more missed chances the score-line would have been bigger in favour of the Mumbai outfit.
In the other tie of the day, Mohun Bagan took the top spot on the table with an entertaining 4-3 victory over Shillong Lajong FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong.
A brace for Balwant Singh within 15 minutes put the visitors in a strong position before Lajong responded with a goal from Cornell Glen later in the first half.
Glen then equalised in the second half with a penalty kick before Yusa Katsumi helped Bagan retake the lead.