Former Dagenham & Redbridge captain hails young side after 4-0 cup triumph
Sporting Bengal United boss Anwar Uddin heaped praise on his young side after they deservedly defeated Halstead Town 4-0 in the second qualifying round of the FA Vase on Saturday.
Tunde Adewunmi netted a brace with Prince William and substitute Yacine Teladjati also on target at the Mile End Stadium.
Bengal’s victory earned them £800 in prize money and a home tie in the first round against Southall.
It backed up the 5-0 win they registered against Enfield last week and left manager Uddin extremely happy.
He said: “The performance was different class, it was almost like the penny dropped for some of them because all the things we do, our style of play, our work rate and everything we try to do just came together and clicked.
“Halstead Town were a very strong side, they have only lose a couple of games and beaten three teams that are at a similar level to us this season. We started really well actually and blew them away early on, we only got one goal, but we deserved more.
“Second half the players were fantastic, they were good and our attackers they are really beginning to express themselves. You get some games where a team wins by four or five goals and you don’t think it is a fair reflection, but on Saturday it definitely was and we thoroughly deserved to win by that margin.”
The only negative for Bengal is the increasing number of players they have on the sidelines and Uddin confirmed their captain will miss the next few months.
Shahed Ahmed has injured his anterior cruciate ligaments and the Mile End Stadium club would dearly love to have a break coming up.
But their success means their fixture schedule is packed to the brim, Uddin added: “There were so many positives to take out of the last week and those two results we got.
“Our captain Shahed has done his ACL so he will be out for a long time. He has just come back from injury, but played for Wycombe Wanderers before and in those last few games been so good, but whenever we have been without people others have stepped up and that was the case on Saturday.
“The injuries are piling up and we could do with having a few internationals so we could have called it off this weekend! The next six weeks we are playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, but that is what happens when you have success in the cups.
“I think the biggest thing that pleases me is we want more people in the community and from local areas to come and watch us, but they are not going to come if we don’t have some sort of success, but for anyone that watched us in our last two home matches they would have had to be impressed so that is really good for us.”
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