AIFF Media Team
GOA: The last time Indian Arrows and Churchill Brothers faced each other, the future stars of India left the Churchill Brothers players panting and puffing. But their inexperience cost them dearly as the young colts shipped in two late goals as Churchill Brothers ran out 2-0 winners.
Indian Arrows will surely look to make amends of that defeat and Churchill Brothers would also be well aware of that as the India Arrows host the Goan club at the Tilak Maidan, Vasco on Saturday (February 10, 2018).
Moreover, Arrows’ weakness of conceding late goals was further exposed in the game against Kingfisher East Bengal.
“Tomorrow we want to give a good answer and try to fight for a result because we always fight for a result. I think we deserve more points. I think we could have had 14 points. Results, as I say always, at the end you always remember the result and not how well you played”, Indian Arrows coach Luis Norton de Matos said.
The former I-League champions have been in red-hot form lately, having seized five wins out of six that has helped them shoot to the seventh spot on the table.
“After the Churchill Brothers team that changed in January, they are a completely different team and very strong. This team is an impressive team of players,” the Portuguese coach added.
Arrows, on the other hand, are slipping down the standing and one reason could be down to their inability to see out results and the number of points dropped due to that.
“It is the exact opposite sensation of scoring in the last minute. As a coach I am frustrated but it makes us learn a new lesson,” Matos reflected.
Arrows striker Aniket Jadhav echoed his coach’s sentiment.
“In that match against Churchill, the goals we had conceded was because of our mistakes. The team has become stronger and we want to take away three points”, the youngster said.
Meanwhile, Churchill Brothers are not exhibiting any weakness in their game at the moment but coach Alfred Fernades feels there is a need for improvement.
“Only area where we can stress upon is our conversion rate. We have been missing a lot of chances in front of goal”, Churchill Brothers coach Alfred Fernandes said.
They have clearly set the target of a top-four finish.
“A realistic target is top four. If we win all our remaining matches, top four is a realistic target especially with top teams dropping points,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Arrows are arguably playing without the pressure of worrying about their position in the table.
“I have already warned my boys that this match will be the toughest. I can play East Bengal, Mohun Bagan easily. But tomorrow is a very tough match because I can do some tactical work against other opponents. But this bunch of fearless boys, you never know, how they will start playing”, Fernandes said.
The match is scheduled at 05:30 PM and it’ll be telecast live on Star SPorts 2/2 HD and streamed live on Hotstar and Jio TV.
