Inspired Gaurs face ATK next as play-off race gets tricky

by Chittu Shetty February 27, 2018

All the Hero Indian Super League playoff hopefuls will be rooting for ATK to cause an upset when the defending champions face FC Goa on Wednesday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Goa.

A win for the Gaurs will take them to fourth place, with a point’s advantage over Jamshedpur FC. One of the most entertaining outfits in Hero ISL history will be aiming for nothing less than three points to get their season back on track. As for ATK, the Kolkata outfit have not won in seven matches — six of them being losses.

The best ATK can do is finish eighth, if they win both their matches and the teams below them don’t match their results. The team don’t have injury concerns apart from Ryan Taylor, but confidence is certainly low. However, they have nothing to lose and their assistant coach Bastab Roy said that it would make for good watching.

“We don’t have any psychological edge — in fact, the situation is not in our favour. But it will be a good open match for the spectators,” he said.

He would not be drawn into the details of what had gone wrong for the side: “This is not the right time to discuss what went wrong. That will be after the season. Something is going wrong in the last 15-20 minutes and FC Goa is a well-balanced team and in the run for the top four. So it’s a tough task and we will give our best,” he added.

FC Goa are riding high after beating a strong Pune City side 4-0. Most of their top performers clicked on the night — with Ferran Corominas scoring a brace while Manuel Lanzarote and Hugo Boumous also got on the score-sheet.

“If we can do it like last time, then great — but we have to tick a few boxes to win. We have to play good football, try and keep a clean sheet and do multiple things right. We don’t want to just win in any manner,” FC Goa head coach Sergio Lobera said.

“We are at a stage where the game tomorrow is very important for us. We fought a lot to reach here and at this moment in time, (qualification) still lies completely in our hand. Hopefully when the two next games are done, our fans will be happy that their team will be competing in the semifinals,” he said.

Lobera also reminded his team that all the records and performances of the past won’t matter when they clash again on Wednesday.

“Tomorrow is a new scenario,” he said.

Also Read: FC Pune City breaks into ISL playoff for first time

Also Read: Mumbai face Delhi test with top 4 still within reach

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