The general secretary at the Mile End Stadium club has praised the progress the east Londoners have made this season

East London Advertiser: Sporting Bengal go on the attack against Sleaford (pic: Tim Edwards)Sporting Bengal go on the attack against Sleaford (pic: Tim Edwards) (Image: Archant)

Sporting Bengal United’s Imrul Gazi was disappointed to see the club bow out of the FA Vase on Saturday to Sleaford Town, but is thrilled with their run in the competition.

A second-half goal from Tunde Adewunmi ensured it finished 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra time was required to decide who would reach the third round.

Unfortunately the Lincolnshire visitors scored twice to earn a 3-1 win and knock Anwar Uddin’s men out at the Mile End Stadium.

Bengal had enjoyed a brilliant run, though, and general secretary Gazi praised the team.

He said: “We had been scoring a lot of goals in the Vase, so we were positive going into Saturday’s match.

“We had the academy team down to watch, so it was great to get them involved as well.

“Both ourselves and Sleaford could have won it, but they managed to do it in the end.

“I think from our perspective we have always been poor at branding and marketing the club, but we are upping that by using social media and this run in the Vase has helped massively to grow our potential and increase our publicity.”

Bengal have now turned their attention back to the Essex Senior League and achieved an excellent win at home to Wadham Lodge on Wednesday.

Abdisamad Mohammed put them ahead before Adewunmi doubled their advantage before half time. Although Charlie Georgiou pulled one back after the break for Lodge, the east London outfit held on to take the points.

Uddin’s men now visit Ilford at Cricklefield Stadium on Saturday and will be looking to move up the table into a top 10 position as the campaign progresses.

Gazi added: “It has been an up and down season. We did better than we expected early on because we have a really young side. The FA Vase has been an excellent distraction from the league because we have been so-so in the Essex Senior League.

“My target at the start of the year was to finish in the top 10 and I think that is realistic and we also wanted a good cup run.

“We have got that in the Vase and now we have the Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy and League Cup to focus on. With some of the teams that have gone out of those competitions already, I think we have a good chance of maybe getting to a final in one of those so we would love to do that.”

Last week Gazi and Uddin attended the Asian Football Awards and the Bengal boss won the Behind the Scenes award.

Although he missed out on the Grassroots Award himself, the general secretary was pleased to see his manager pick up an accolade.

“We are really proud of him and hopefully he can win one with our club next year,” added Gazi.

“I was with Anwar on the night and although it didn’t go too well for myself, it was brilliant that Anwar won his award for the work he does with the Football Supporters Federation. He is driving up and down the country so it was nice to see his hard work pay off.”