Kolkata: ATK’s woes seems to continue even Beyond the Indian Super League, with their U-15 team now receiving a 8-0 thrashing by city rivals East Bengal in their Youth I-League encounter at the Barasat stadium. Striker Hasan Ali Molla scored four, while Mukesh Singha, Akshay Dey, Bijay Mandal and Sourav Mondal chipped in with a goal each, to bring up the win.
It has been just over a month when another city rivals Mohun Bagan had thrashed ATK 13-0 in the same competition and now another such big defeat brings up the lack of proper coaching and any compact grass-root level programme of the Indian Super League teams.
Courtesy, the win both the Kolkata giants now lie at the top of the table with seven points each from three matches, while ATK are lingering at the bottom of the table having failed to collect a single point in the four matches that they have played so far.
With both the senior and the junior team lying at the bottom half of their respective league tables, it is time that both pull their socks up and kick-start their campaign if they are to win anything substantial this season.
Meanwhile, the senior teams of both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan started their Hero I-League campaign with a draw and next play a mouth-watering derby at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium on December 3.
The derby match of the youth teams which was earlier scheduled to be played on November 13 had have been postponed due to security reasons and a confirmed date is yet to be announced. In their next round matches, East Bengal play Mohammedan Sporting club, while Mohun Bagan clash against United Sports Club. ATK will play the Sports Authority of India in their next encounter.