Bambolim: SC East Bengal will look to beef up their attack and secure a maiden win in the Indian Super League (ISL) when they face Mumbai City FC here Tuesday. Despite heavy odds, the Robbie Fowler-coached East Bengal put up a creditable show in their first outing of ISL. Even though they lost 0-2 against ATK Mohun Bagan their performance was appreciated..
East Bengal were the last team to find a place on the ISL roster. Fowler had less than a month to build the squad. If that was not enough, they were pitted against their formidable arch-rivals on debut.
But Fowler’s side dominated possession for stretches and their former Norwich City winger Anthony Pilkington looked threatening in the midfield. It was lack of finishing prowess with Balwant Singh up front that proved costly for them.
Fowler named a defensive formation against the well-set ATK Mohun Bagan with Balwant as the sole striker. He put the experienced Jeje Lalpekhlua on the bench, something that did not work out.
Fowler’s newly-built side would need to reorganise their forward line. They will have to convert their chances when they clash against the Sergio Lobera-outfit that beat a 10-man FC Goa 1-0 with a late strike in their second round game.
Apart from Pilkington, German midfielder Matti Steinmann looked strong in passes and held possession for long for East Bengal. It is their Indian contingent that has Fowler worried.
Fowler hopes their new team would turn it around quickly and move up from the bottom spot in the 11-team table.
“It’s not been the most ideal preparation. For a team that have been together for two-and-a-half weeks, I think we put in a good performance,” Fowler said of their 0-2 defeat to ATKMB.
“But we’ve accepted it, adapted to it. We were incredibly late coming here, so we have not trained together. But the way we played, we proved we can get better and better,” he added.
Mumbai City had also started off on a losing note, going down to NorthEast United 0-1 in a match in which they looked wayward. They opened their account against FC Goa but were far from convincing.
The combination of Adam Le Fondre and Bartholomew Ogbeche has not worked for Lobera while Mourtada Fall struggled to get going against FC Goa.