Chakraborty: A positive result is a must against East Bengal

"Our strategy is pretty straight and simple, give your cent percent and churn out a positive result. In our quest for the second consecutive I-League trophy, we need a positive result in Siliguri," said Chakraborty.

Mohun Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen's ban was reduced recently.

Shankarlal Chakraborty, who is standing in for suspended coach Sanjoy Sen at Mohun Bagan, says a positive result for the team is of paramount importance in the upcoming I-League derby against East Bengal.

The Mariners play East Bengal in its return match at Siliguri on Saturday.

“Our strategy is pretty straight and simple, give your cent percent and churn out a positive result. In our quest for the second consecutive I-League trophy, we need a positive result in Siliguri,” said Chakraborty, who has represented both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal after having graduated from Tata Football Academy.

He said the defending champion’s strategy will be to not concede an early goal.

“Our first priority always remains not to concede an early goal. In the wee minutes of the game, we tend to focus on judging our opponents and then changing our gears according to our strengths and their limitations. When the two giants confront with each other, you can’t expect anything less than an enthralling humdinger,” said the coach.

Asked how he is preparing himself before his first derby as the Mariners’ coach, Chakraborty said, “I always believe that the Derby is the final frontier. Be it player or coach, you’ll always be tested on the Derby. But for us, generally, everything is planned by Sanjoy Da (Sen).

“During the course of the game, we keep an eye to the movements and tweak the strategies according to the need of the game. The same practice we followed against Sporting Clube de Goa, Mumbai FC, Aizawl FC and there’ll be no change against East Bengal either.”