Robin Singh revels in victorious form

After guiding East Bengal to a much-needed win, birthday boy Robin Singh wore a wide smile and looked at the bigger picture.

Robin Singh scored a goal apiece in either half to help East Bengal beat Chennai City FC 2-0 in the Federation Cup at the Barabati Stadium on Tuesday.

After guiding East Bengal to a much-needed win, birthday boy Robin Singh wore a wide smile and looked at the bigger picture.

Robin, who scored a goal apiece in either half to help East Bengal beat Chennai City FC 2-0 in the Federation Cup at the Barabati Stadium here on Tuesday, said: “I am happy to have scored two goals, it is just another day. I scored five goals in the I-League and now two here. As a striker you get confidence and it is good for East Bengal.”

The affable goal-scorer put his individual achievement into perspective. “It is good for the country as all the strikers — me, Jeje (Lalpekhlua) and Balwant (Singh) — are scoring goals. I am 27, Jeje is 26. So we are young and doing well. When all the strikers do well, it helps the national team.”

Taking confidence from India’s 100th world ranking, which the country achieved after 21 years, the national team will look forward to perform well in two international friendlies against Lebanon (on June 7) and Palestine (on October 2) and five AFC Asian Cup qualifier matches against Kyrgyz Republic, Macau and Myanmar (between June 13, 2017 and March 27, 2018).

Asked whether he wanted to celebrate his birthday in a special way, Robin said: “I never played before on my birthday. It feels good. My team-mates will do whatever they want, but I have decided that I am not going let them smear cake on my face.”

On East Bengal losing two of its main players, defender Gurwinder Singh and midfielder Mehtab Hossain (who have got two yellow cards each) in its next match against Aizawl FC on Thursday, Robin said: “We have got equally good players who can replace them. ”