The east Londoners haven’t played since December 9, but want to sign off for 2017 with another league victory

Sporting Bengal United boss Imrul Gazi is expecting the worst ahead of Saturday’s Essex Senior League clash at Wadham Lodge, but if the match goes ahead, he wants his team to end 2017 with a win.

The Mile End Stadium club were left frustrated last week when their Friday night game at Woodford Town was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.

Bengal will hope for better luck at Wadham Lodge this weekend, but Gazi is not holding his breath with Lodge’s tenants Waltham Forest having their home clash last Saturday postponed.

He said: “I know they don’t have the best pitch by all accounts, so I am not too confident it will go ahead.

“I really hope it will as we want to play even more after the Woodford Town game was off, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”

Should the match go ahead, Bengal will aim to end a solid 2017 with a good performance and a win.

The east Londoners lost their last fixture at home to local rivals Tower Hamlets on December 9, but were on an impressive four-game unbeaten run before that.

And Gazi is hoping they can show their quality at the Wadham Lodge Stadium this weekend, but not leave it so late to win this time.

When Bengal hosted Lodge on September 20, the home side were losing 2-1 with time running out before producing some late drama to claim a thrilling 3-2 victory.

Gazi said: “The key from our perspective this weekend is it’s a good opportunity to pick up a win before the end of 2017, but it’s these types of games where we struggle.

“Our lads don’t need a lot to get excited about facing the likes of Takeley and FC Romania, but having said that, we did beat Wadham Lodge earlier this season, so we know we can get results from these fixtures.

“Wadham Lodge did give us a right scare though because they were 2-1 up with 10 minutes to go, but we managed to win it 3-2 with the last kick of the game.

“I don’t want it to be so close again on Saturday, but if it goes ahead we want to right the wrongs of the previous meeting and show how good we can be. I’ll have a strong squad, so I’m confident.”