Former Dagenham & Redbridge captain will take charge of club’s last home game of the season on Saturday

East London Advertiser: Sporting Bengal and London Bari players shake hands before their derby (pic: Tim Edwards)Sporting Bengal and London Bari players shake hands before their derby (pic: Tim Edwards) (Image: Archant)

Sporting Bengal United boss Anwar Uddin wants his players to go out and beat Ilford in the Essex Senior League at Mile End Stadium this weekend.

The Foxes make the short trip into east London to face a side determined to get back to winning ways.

Bengal lost 1-0 to local rivals London Bari on Saturday and this weekend will be their final home match of the season.

“Ilford are a very good side with some top players and they know what they are doing at this level,” said Uddin.

“They should be up there in the table and they are, so we know it will be really difficult, but we want to finish with a good result at home and believe we can.”

The Mile End Stadium club have been draw specialists this year, but have also achieved some fine wins in front of their fans.

Uddin’s men beat Basildon United 1-0 in September and had some excellent victories in the FA Vase at home.

They saw off Halstead Town 4-0 and smashed Southall 6-2, but have lost two of their last three games at Mile End.

“It would be nice to sign off with a win at home and our form there has been good this season,” added Uddin.

“There isn’t many occasions when we have been outplayed, and in the FA Vase we put in some great performances in front of our fans.

“We got a couple of superb results at the start of the season and have given most of the top teams a good game. This weekend we will be looking to do the same.”

Bengal conceded in the 74th minute to lose to local rivals Bari and defeat keeps them 12th in the table on 43 points with three games left to play.

Uddin could only stay for the first half due to work commitments, but assistant Steve Clark took over.

He threw caution to the wind, which pleased his manager, but it failed to pay off for the Mile End club.

“It was one of them days, it seemed like it would finish 0-0 with both teams organised and not giving much away,” added Uddin.

“Steve changed our formation in the second half as we wanted to go for the win. We have drawn more games than anybody this season and a point does nothing for us now.

“It was a bit of a gamble to say ‘let’s go for it and throw bodies forward’ so we threw caution to the wind. We wanted to try and get the three points, but fair play to London Bari they took their chance and got the win.”