The Aircraftsmen, assured of relegation take on resurgent Pailan Arrows in an I-League encounter at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Saturday, April 28.
This season’s home match performance for the Aircraftmen has been pathetic - last match resulted in a 5-1 thrashing in the hands of Mumbai FC. Failing to register a home win in this season, tomorrow, they have nothing but to play for pride against the rookies from Pailan Arrows.
Pailan Arrows stay on 13 points from 24 matches while HAL Bangalore stays at the bottom of the table with 8 points from 24 outings.
With a goal difference of -41 so far, perhaps worst ever by an I-League team, HAL’s defense has never been the strength for all season. Central defender Femi Joseph Adeola is out sick, looks doubtful for tomorrow’s game and Biju Kumar is yet to recover from injury. Also, keeper P Pramod’s service will be missed due to some personal commitment.
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| Pailan Coach Sujit Chakraborty |
After their first victory in the League against Chirag Kerala, Pailan Coach Sujit Chakraborty sounded a relieved man. “Our patience has finally paid off. We were unlucky in some of our earlier matches. It’s nice to be rewarded a victory after all the hard work.”
“It’s true the win came at the fag end of the tournament. But there’s always a beginning.”
“We have been playing attacking football but weren’t able to convert the chances that came our way. In the last match, everyone executed the plans to perfection,” he added. “The manner in which the midfielders supported the strikers was amazing. Sabeeth was exceptional.”
However, Chakraborty isn’t willing to go overboard. “We need to stay aware of HAL. They don’t have anything to lose and will be coming hard at us. We need to be cautious. But we will play for a win,” he commented.
The last time the two teams met in the first phase of the I-League, the match ended 1-1.
HAL would love to dish out a memorable performance in their last home match of the season.
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