General secretary looks ahead to league clash with Wadham Lodge and reflects on the campaign so far
Sporting Bengal United general secretary Imrul Gazi is hoping three points against Wadham Lodge this evening will help kick-start their Essex Senior League campaign, but has praised the work achieved by boss Anwar Uddin and his team.
The Mile End Stadium club finished last season bottom of the division with just 16 points from their 38 games.
It resulted in former Dagenham & Redbridge captain Uddin taking over as manager in the summer with Steve Clark becoming his assistant.
The duo, alongside their other backroom staff, have since seen the east London outfit achieve great success in the FA Vase.
Bengal reached the second round of the competition before being knocked out on Saturday – losing 3-1 after extra time to Sleaford Town.
Now they will switch their focus back to the league and although they have 18 points already this year, they want to do even better and are targeting a victory at home to Lodge this evening.
Gazi said: “In the summer I thought we needed a fresh start and a more professional set-up and that is what we have got now.
“It is a totally different club compared to last season. It isn’t just Anwar that had introduced that, it is Steve, Richard Bates and Melvin Hancock the physio.
“Anwar with his work commitments isn’t always around so Steve and Richard take the reins and do an amazing job.
“Although Anwar isn’t around, we need a win and the management team know what to do. Hopefully against Wadham Lodge we can get three points and it will kick-start the winter period for us. We have already bettered last season’s points total, but that was never going to be hard.”
During Saturday’s game in the Vase against Sleaford, Bengal had an impressive attendance of 91.
Although Tunde Adewunmi scored again for the Mile End Stadium outfit, they conceded two goals in extra time to exit the competition.
But the day was a big success regardless for the club with Gazi bringing some of the academy team along to watch the game.
He said: “The idea was to show them what they can achieve. We had them and their parents down for the FA Vase match.
“I am hoping that can happen more once we get past the winter because the weather wasn’t great and some of the mums and dads probably wanted to head off home!
“The main positive of the day was that we had 25 kids at the stadium so they could experience the atmosphere and see the Sporting Bengal team.”
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