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Title contenders Mohammedan Sporting were dealt a blow in their last two matches when the Black Panthers were held to back-to-back draws by TRAU FC and RoundGlass Punjab FC respectively, seeing them slump to sixth on the I-League table.
Five points adrift of league leaders Churchill Brothers, the Jose Hevia-coached team would be hungry to get back to winning ways when they face a depleted NEROCA FC side at the Kalyani Municipal Stadium tomorrow, February 3.
The match is slated for a 4pm kick-off and will be broadcast live on 1Sports whilst being streamed on their Facebook page.
Speaking at the official pre-match press conference, coach Jose Hevia stressed on the urgency of the win needed to propel the Black Panthers back into the leading pack of the I-League. “It is very important to win tomorrow as it will tell us how well we have progressed after working hard in the practice sessions to correct our mistakes.”
“We are improving and it is only a matter of time before we reach the target of scoring more goals. We are training extremely hard in practice sessions to correct our mistakes and be more clinical in front of goal”
“Our strategy is very clear, we will go for the win. We want to win matches with the maximum number of goals. The players have been fantastic in the last practice sessions and we are ready to go,” he added.
Defender Asheer Akhtar said, “We have been praised for our defence and that is because the entire team helps when defending. The credit goes to everyone. We would like to get back to winning ways tomorrow and climb up in the league table.”
Two red cards in a 1-2 loss to Aizawl FC will mean that NEROCA FC will be without the services of defender Kallon Varney and midfielder Akbar Khan. Tenth on the table, Gift Raikhan’s team will need to produce perhaps their best performance of the season if they are to grab a win.
Speaking at the virtual pre-match meet, Raikhan said, “It is very important to grab points in a table that is very congested. One win and we can possibly go into the top half. We are motivating ourselves with that and although there is a long way to go in the season, we have to start from now.”
“Mohammedan Sporting are a very tough challenge for us and we will need to fight for every ball tomorrow. There will be pressure and it will be a new challenge for us. I expect the players playing tomorrow to come out with flying colours.”
“We are trying to utilize the Garcia brothers upfront to their maximum potential and we will have to be very focused tomorrow if we are to get a positive result,” he added.
Forward Varun Thokchom said, “The I-League is a very good platform for young players to get into the limelight of Indian football. And playing against a legacy club like Mohammedan Sporting is very exciting but full of pressure. We will do our best tomorrow and we will go for the win.”
