At the start of last season, Kerala born Denson Devadas was struggling to get into the Chirag first eleven. But he improved as the league progressed and by the beginning of the second phase he became an important member of the starting lineup, playing a key role in the club’s relegation fight.
His consistency was rewarded with a place in the Bengal Santosh Trophy team that lost to Goa on penalties in the final.
Overall it was a memorable season for Denson last term and this time he has already made a good start. He looked in good touch during pre-season and in the opening game of the I-League he was named the skipper. The former Viva Kerala player capped off the occasion with a man of the match performance in the 3-2 victory.
Denson wants to dedicate his success to God but doesn’t want to stop here. Speaking to Goal.com he said, “I have immense faith in God, that is what keeps me going. “Whatever I am today is because of Almighty so I would like to thank Him and pray for even better things in future.”
He then talked about his personal targets this season and remained optimistic of a national call up. “I have to be consistent week in week out. There is a lot of competition for places in this team so I cannot afford to drop my level of performance.
“If I do all that then a call up to the national team wont be far away. That’s the ultimate target for any player so I really hope I can achieve it.” He then talked about the current Chirag squad and their chances in the league this time. “There are a lot of new players in the squad but most of them have a lot of experience so they haven’t had any problems adjusting.
“We have made a good start but we don’t want to think too far just yet. There are two more games in Kolkata so we are aiming to win them. “Once we reach the halfway point of the season we will get a better idea of where we can finish this term.”
Denson wasn’t too sure about the use of artificial turfs during pre-season but now after playing two matches on it and training for nearly a month, he feels that it is the ideal pitch to play during rains but admits that it could be a problem during summer.
“It has been raining in Kolkata but while playing we haven’t faced any problems because of the artificial turf. So it is perfect in that way as we don’t have to play on muddy grounds.
“But there is the risk of muscle injury and that would increase in hot and humid conditions."
The left footed player finally talked about the increase in expectations from Chirag and predicted a very bright future for the club. He feels that if his team gets success this season, they would go on to build a fan base.
“The expectations have increased because we have built a very good team so there is a little more pressure this time. East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are giants so they can’t get any bigger. We are still like the babies in the top flight so we can only grow as a club. We don’t have a fan base currently but if we do get success this time I am sure we will slowly build that also,” he concluded.
Amoy Ghoshal
Goal.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Friday 9 October 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.
Comments · 1
GREAT FAMILY BACKGROUND.... IN FOOT BALL