By Minerva Academy FC Media

CHANDIGARH: Minerva Academy Football Club will look to register hat-trick of wins in the I-League 2nd Division when they host Dempo SC at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana on Sunday. The match against Dempo SC, the most successful club in the history of National/I-League, with 5 titles will be Minerva Academy FC’s 3rd match of the season.

Having defeated Kenkre FC and Lonestar Kashmir FC earlier, the ‘Pride of Punjab’ are placed at the top of the table in the Western Conference, two points ahead of Lonestar Kashmir FC.

Following Kashmir FC with 3 points are Dempo SC, courtesy of a narrow win against Kenkre FC in their opening match. However, the Goans suffered a 3-0 reverse in their last engagement against Kashmir FC. They would not look for anything less than a win in Ludhiana while Minerva will  go all out for another 3 points. Hence a crackling match is on the offer for the people of Ludhiana to come and witness at the Guru Nanak Stadium.

With no injury to the side, Minervans’ head coach Surinder Singh is having ample options to choose from his reserves. He however will miss the service of Prabhjot Singh, who was sent off in the last match. He will also have to miss Jagpreet Singh, last match goal scorer, as he is also suspended for receiving consecutive Yellow Cards.

“We are having a good run so far and we will look to continue that against Dempo SC on Sunday. All my players are fit though I will miss couple them because of suspension. But that’s not an issue as I have ample options to fall back, though I prefer not to disturb the winning combination. But at the same time, I wouldn’t mind to try out the other combinations if situation demands,” said Surinder Singh.

Captain Simranjeet Singh is confident of another good show thought he was a little reluctant to predict the outcome. “Football is an unpredictable game. It all depends on what you do in that ultimate 90 minutes. Anything can happen. Thats the beauty of the game. But I am confident, Minervans will play another brand of exciting football,” the former Bharat FC said.

Meanwhile the team’s midfield engine, Bala Al-Hassan said, “We play to win and we will win it again but we want our supporters to come in huge numbers and cheer for us.” However hard we may practice or play, without fans on the stands, we are nothing,” Bala, a Nigerian married to an Indian lady elucidated.