I-League Media team

GOA: Salgaocar Football Club will go into their crucial home clash against Bharat FC knowing they need a win and nothing less in the penultimate Hero I-League clash at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Sunday.

Salgaocar FC are at the bottom of the league table. With just two matches to be played, Salgaocar know they need a win against Bharat FC to ease some pressure ahead of their potential relegation-decider against archrivals Dempo Sports Club in the concluding game.

“We have no choice. We have to go all out against Bharat FC. We know we cannot take anything for granted against Bharat FC, even though they are free from relegation but we do not want to leave too much to do in our last match against Dempo. That can be tricky,” said   Salgaocar FC coach Derrick Pereira.

At the bottom of the table, Salgaocar and Dempo both have 18 points in their kitty and will take on each other in the concluding game.

“It’s true that we lost to Bharat FC in our away game but it was a game which we dominated and conceded some silly goals, including the second goal which was a penalty. I am sure we can overturn the result when we play tomorrow at Fatorda,” said Pereira.

Pereira said he will almost certainly play the same team that played a goalless draw against Dempo SC.

Bharat FC, on the other hand, will be looking to bounce back to winning ways.

The visitors, making their debut in the I-League, are in the ninth position with 18 points from 18 matches, the same as Dempo and Salgaocar. But the visitors have been exempted from relegation for three years.

“In our last three matches, we have played some great football. Beating Mohun Bagan and Pune FC were great achievements and everyone in the team really pulled their weight. Unfortunately we could not keep the momentum going against Shillong Lajong and we paid the price. Tomorrow we aim to correct the mistakes we made in the last game and go all out for the three points,” he said.

Bharat FC conceded three second-half goals to go down 3-1 against Shillong Lajong FC in Shillong, a match where Bharat FC had opened the scoring and were ahead in the first 45 minutes.

Bharat FC will be missing out on the services of first choice goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya due to an injury.

Kick-off: 24-05-2015@4:30 PM
Hashtag: #SFCvKBFC