Interim head coach Rennedy Singh will know how it feels to give instructions from the sidelines when SC East Bengal take on Bengaluru FC in an ISL VIII match at the GMC Athletic Stadium in Bambolim on Tuesday.
SC East Bengal have had a horrendous campaign so far and will hope to begin the new year with a much-needed victory. Rennedy, who took over the reins from Jose Manuel Diaz and would vacate the hot seat to Mario Rivera once the Spaniard joins, sounded really satisfied with the way the team has prepared for this game.
“I worked with the team for almost a week and am happy with the effort the boys have put in. If they can replicate the same effort they have been putting in practice, I’m sure we’ll get good results,” he said. Sitting at the bottom of the ISL table, the former India captain knows the impact a win can have on the whole team.
“No team wants to be in the situation we are in. It’s a difficult challenge, but it is a good time for us to show we can do better,” Rennedy asserted.
Being a former player, Rennedy is no stranger to the topsy-turvy ride of football. “I have seen a lot of ups and downs in my playing career. We have to fight it out as a unit. It is not easy at all to boost the morale of the side when the results are not going your way but I’m really happy with the work ethic the boys have shown,” he said.
Talking about the changes he wants to see in his side, Rennedy said, “In the last six days in training, what I was trying to do is maintain better structure and shape while attacking as well as defending.”
Rennedy will face a familiar foe in the form of Sunil Chhetri. Though the captain of the national team is yet to score in ISL VIII, Rennedy is well aware of the mayhem Chhetri can cause at any given time.
“It does not help that Sunil has not scored in this season’s ISL because we all know what he is capable of. He can come good in any given match,” Rennedy said.
Bengaluru FC began the new year on a positive note after notching up their second win of the campaign after a spell of seven winless matches.
