Habibur Rehman will play at his usual right-back position

Gurgaon: Faced with the threat of being eliminated from the quarter finals of the Santosh Trophy, Bengal coach Prasanta Banerjee, in a last ditch effort, has decided to go for a total overhauling of the first XI in the last league match against Punjab at the Devi Lal Sports Complex here on Wednesday.

With defender Saumik Dey and midfielder Snehasis Chakrabarty also joining their skipper Sandip Nandy in the injured list, Bengal are likely to field a near new-look defence and midfield against Punjab.

“I am planning to bring back Habibur Rehman to his usual right-back position,” Banerjee said. “He didn’t do too badly as the central midfielder, but he seems to be more comfortable in defence.”

The other three defenders, Bijoy Basfore, Shyam Mondal and Sanjeev Maria, however, will retain their places in the team.

“We are left with no other option but to win tomorrow,” rued Banerjee. “My midfield failed against Goa, so I have decided to make a few changes. Along with injured Snehasis, Gauranga Dutta will also get the axe to pave the way for Asim Das, Avinash Thapa and Tapan Maity. Banerjee hoped that the new lot would be able to supply enough passes to the two strikers — Dipendu Biswas and Syed Rahim Nabi.

Given the kind of football Bengal played against Goa on Monday, it would be too much to expect the 29-time champions taking the pitch as favourites and pocket full points. Punjab, who need only a draw to make the semi-finals, have dished out a better brand of soccer both against Goa and Haryana.

Punjab, however, have one problem. Their key striker Manjit Singh suffered an ankle injury against Haryana and is likely to sit out against Bengal. One of the best players of the tournament so far, Manjit was a source of worry for the Bengal coach, who had special plans to counter the Mahindra United striker. Jaswinder Singh is likely to take Manjit’s place.

The Bengal coach admitted that lack of scoring ability had been the main problem for his team. “I am still keeping Nabi in the forwardline hoping against hope he would deliver the goods. I tried Tarif Ahmed against Goa in the second half. Everyone watched how he came a cropper.”

Bengal’s goalkeeping coach Tanumoy Bose put it well. “The most important thing is the urge to win and it cannot be brought in by coaching. The players will have to realise that.”