Musah has been the inspiration for Tollygunge

Mumbai: Mahindra United hold a clear edge over Tollygunge Agragami when the two clash in the ninth National Football League for the ONGC Cup at the Cooperage here on Friday.

The local outfit, who have moved to the fourth spot with 10 points from five matches, have a better balanced side than their rivals, who are sixth with nine points having played a match extra.

The home side won a thrilling away match against Vasco Sports Club 3-2 in their last encounter, while Tollygunge Agragami were held to a goalless draw at State Bank of Travancore.

Mahindra United custodian Sandip Nandy is in very good form and is expected to do well under the bar.

Their defence consists of Surkumar Singh, Covan Lawrence and Arun Malhotra while their midfield is made up of N.S. Manju, hardworking S. Venkatesh, skipper Khalid Jamil and Jatin Bisht.

In the forward line, they have the two Brazilians Flavio Rodrigues and Rodrigo de Almeida with Rauf Khan and Abhishek Yadav.

On the bench, the side has Sunder Rajan, Jinto Jose, Debabrata Ray, K. Koluthungan, Khalid Sidique and Steven Dias.

Subir Sarkar is Tollygunge?s first choice goalkeeper while Kabijit Khotel, Debkumar Sasmal and Isiaka Awoyemi are their defenders.

In the midfield they have Saumik Dey, Dinesh Swar, Suley Musha and Suman Dutta while their forward line consists of Gouranga Dutta, Surajit Bose and Akeem Abolanle.

Pralay Dutta, Nilava Charaborty, Satyabrata Bhowmick, Chinmoy Sarkar, Santosh Singh, Tarif Ahmed and Suman Dutta (junior) are the reserve players on the bench.

If Mahindra United are looking at the Brazilians, Tollygunge Agragami are looking towards Nigerian Suley Musah to hold fort. Musah has been in excellent form and has been inspirational for the visitors in recent matches.