I-League: Minerva target top eight finish (Preview)

Minerva Punjab FC will aim to finish in the top eight for a berth in the Federation Cup while East Bengal will look to get their house in order when the two sides meet for an I-League encounter at the Barasat Stadium here on Sunday.

Minerva are ninth in the 10-team league table while East Bengal are third.

After a spate of poor displays, Trevor Morgan was sacked as East Bengal coach and Bengal's Santosh Trophy winning coach Mridul Banerjee was appointed in his place.

However, Banerjee injured himself during his first training session with the team and was ruled out for the season, following which Ranjan Chowdhury was appointed as interim coach.

East Bengal, who had beaten the I-League debutants from Punjab 5-0 in the first leg, will now look to get full points in their remaining two matches and finish in top three.

"We want to win the remaining matches and finish on a high. The target will be to do well in the Federation Cup (next month). We will like to take the momentum from these two matches," Chowdhury said.

East Bengal currently have 27 points from 16 matches with Willis Plaza their leading scorer on seven goals.

With Minerva immune to relegation, their coach Surinder Singh is aiming to finish higher up the table.

"Our aim is to finish in the top eight so that we can play the Federation Cup," he said.

--IANS

dm/ajb/bg