By IANS
Margao : Dempo Sports Club find themselves under increasing pressure as the league leaders take on JCT, Phagwara in a potentially decisive I-League match, at the Nehru Stadium here Thursday.
Dempo (27 points) were cruising along nicely at the half way stage, opening an enormous seven-point gap at the top of the table. However, two consecutive losses have pegged the overwhelming favourites back, who, however, continue to be at the top of the table.
Dempo, the defending National Football League champions can, however, be knocked off their top slot by JCT (25 points) should the Phagwara outfit come out trumps on Thursday.
“Our calculations are simple,” Dempo’s interim coach Mauricio Afonso told IANS Wednesday after a training session here Wednesday.
“We cannot allow JCT to walk away with three points and upstage us. We cannot afford to drop any more points,” the former India captain continued.
The Goan team will continue to miss Valerian Rebello at the right of defence and his absence continues to remain the chink in the Dempo’s armoury. Cressan Antao is susceptible to pressure and is not half as prolific as Valerian when moving forward.
Adding to Dempo’s woes is Roberto Mendes da Silva. The Brazilian midfielder missed Wednesday’s training session with suspected diarhoea and there was no immediate word on whether he would be fit enough for tomorrow’s all-important clash.
“We will have to access him tomorrow morning. Hopefully, he should be able to take the field,” Mauricio disclosed.
Should Beto, as the Brazilian is fondly known, be unavailable Riston Rodrigues is favoured to take his place with Nascimento Silveira as cover.
JCT, on the other hand, are also mulling a few changes with Baljit Singh Saini replacing former international Renedy Singh in midfield.
JCT’s unexpected loss to Churchill Bros in the last match has upset coach Sukhwinder Singh’s calculations and the wily coach is making sure there is no repeat.
“A loss tomorrow can almost kill our chances,” admits Sukhwinder, the former India coach.
“Even though we will have four matches to play, tomorrow’s clash will be decisive,” he continued.