Mile End Stadium outfit boosted by return of goalkeeper Dwayne Esprit and defender Freddy Tandon recently

Sporting Bengal United manager Imrul Gazi concedes his team are lacking fire power up front right now in the Essex Senior League.

The east Londoners lost 2-0 at Stansted on Saturday to remain rooted to the bottom of the table.

Although Gazi was content with their performance at Hargrave Park, Bengal have now scored just three times from their last four matches.

He said: “Stansted are a good team and from our perspective we are lacking fire power. We have been really struggling with injuries and every game we seem to lose another player.

“Some of the people I’m being forced to use are from Sunday League and yet we are not getting smashed now so that’s a positive.

“Hopefully the Eton Manor game (7-0) was a one-off and we are creating chances too, but just can’t finish them off.”

What has not helped the Mile End Stadium boss of late are injuries, which seem to be a regular occurrence for the east Londoners.

Bengal last picked up a point after a 2-2 draw at London Bari on November 19, yet it could have been so much more.

Gazi’s team conceded twice in the final eight minutes of the match having led for long periods at Old Spotted Dog.

“Injuries have been a big problem and we were 2-0 up against London Bari and then lost a defender,” said Bengal’s manager. “It happened at a crucial time, I had made all of my substitutions.

“We spent the last 15 minutes defending. In the end I was actually happy to take a point so I feel like we have been very unlucky at times.”

Bengal couldn’t pick up any reward at Stansted, though were boosted by the return of defender Freddy Tandon.

With goalkeeper Dwayne Esprit available, Gazi has two of his impressive trio from the start of the campaign back again.

He added: “Strength in depth is a real issue for us, but we’ve got Freddy playing now and he got through 90 minutes on Saturday.

“I think he has missed the last eight or nine matches and he was part of our defensive trio at the start of the year.

“We had Dwayne with Freddy and Chris Ratambwa at the back and they were outstanding for us in keeping three clean sheets from our first three games.

“Dwayne has been back for the last couple of matches and Freddy is available now so defensively we are in a better shape than recently.”