By Abhishek Roy, IANS
Ludhiana : A day after helping Mahindra United qualify for the final of the 29th Federation Cup football tournament, substitute goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury said he needs to be patient to become a regular in the starting eleven of the Mumbai outfit.
“I know the coach has some plans with me in the future. For the time being it is a test of my patience and hard work,” said the 22-year-old Chowdhury here Thursday.
Chowdhury’s heroics and antics helped Mahindra beat Dempo Sports Club of Goa via tiebreaker 3-1 after the match ended in a 1-1 draw in regulation time at the Guru Nanak Stadium here Wednesday.
The 22-year-old from Kolkata replaced senior teammate Sandip Nandy under the bars at the end of extra time.
Chowdhury frustrated penalty takers Brazilians Beto and Ranty Martins with his funny antics and foiled their attempts. The goalkeeper before taking his mark would jump a couple of times in the air and then stretch himself on the goal-line which also delayed the strike, disturbing the penalty takers.
“The antics that I do are intentional and disturb their concentration. I did everything, which was legal. The referee couldn’t have shown me a card. Some of the antics I developed myself and the others I learnt from my childhood coaches Lalu Chatterjee and Kishore Mukherjee,” said Chowdhury.
It was the second time in the tournament that Mahindra coach Derek Pereira substituted Nandy with Chowdhury. Pereira preferred Chowdhury, for his better skills in tiebreakers, in the dying minutes of the extra-half in their quarterfinal match against Sporting Clube de Goa.
Chowdhury saved Bibiano Fernandes’ final spot kick to help the 2005 champions survive in the title hunt.
“I was nervous because there was lot of expectation from me after my performance against Sporting Clube de Goa. My coach and Sandip da told me to relax and give my best,” said Chowdhury, who passed out from the Tata Football Academy in 2004.
After playing the 2005-06 season with East Bengal, Chowdhury moved to Mumbai. He has been with the Mahindra team for the past two years.
Chowdhury accepted that not being able to be a part of the first eleven is at times frustrating but said that he wants to stick to the team because of his senior teammate Nandy.
“I don’t want to leave Mahindra because I want to stay with Sandip da. I get to know a lot from him,” said Chowdhury.