I-League Media Team

GOA: Sporting Clube de Goa coach Mathew D’Costa said his team will go all out in search of a win against Bharat FC in the Hero I-League clash at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Saturday.

Sporting Clube continued to be rooted to the bottom of the league table and desperately need to win some matches to save the drop. The Panjim based team has 11 points from 15 matches and coach Mathew feels his team must play only to win.

“The league is now drawing to a close and you can see from our position on the points table that we have to start winning. There is no point in accumulating draws. What we need is a win,” said the Sporting coach.

Sporting Clube have lost just one match, against Bengaluru FC, since the I-League restarted and have had plenty of draws. The draws have hurt them and the coach says the focus is now to turn the draws into credible and much-needed victories.

“A draw will be as good as a loss for us. We have go all out and search for a win,” said Mathew.

Sporting Clube are expected to field the same team that drew the last match against Mumbai FC at home but there are question marks over the availability of Odafa Okolie. The Nigerian striker and captain was stretchered out of the field after just six minutes against Mumbai FC and the coach confirmed that Odafa remains a doubtful starter.

“I cannot say anything as of now. We will have to take a call on Odafa’s fitness only on the day of the match,” said the Sporting coach.

Bharat FC coach Stuart Watkiss will welcome the return of players like Gouramangi Singh, Arindam Bhattacharya, Dharmaraj Ravanan and Syed Nabi, all of whom missed the loss against Bengaluru FC. The defence will need to be in good stead as Sporting Clube will come out all guns blazing.

In attack, though, Bharat FC will continue to miss the services of the injured Kris Bright.

Bharat FC do not have the fear of relegation as the AIFF guidelines mean the newcomers are free from relegation for three years. But Bharat FC will not want to finish at the bottom.

Kick-off: 02-05-2015@ 4:30 PM
Hashtag: #SCGvKBFC