Churchill Brothers seem to be in a spot of bother, particularly in the defence with Radanfah Abu Bakr being unavailable owing to the marching orders in the last match. The Red Machines, though, will be happy with the return of Gambian midfielder Dawda Ceesay whose pairing with Khalif Alhassan in the middle will be one to reckon with during the encounter considering both make it to the starting eleven.
Churchill Brothers are placed sixth having bagged ten points from seven games.
Speaking before the match Bernardo Tavares, Head Coach, Churchill Brothers FC Goa said, "The team is very upset with the last few results. We played well in moments rather than throughout the match, which can't win you a match, hence, we ended up on the losing side that night. We want to play good consistent football and ensure that we win against Neroca."
Neroca FC, on the other hand, is placed eighth in the table with eight points from nine games. The Orange army, after a long time, showed resilience against Punjab but eventually, Dicka's individual brilliance took the game away from them. But, their on-field performance would certainly give them lots of confidence.
The major ray of hope for the team is the striker from Mali, Boubacar Siaka Diarra who has scored 4 goals from the nine matches. He will be looking to continue his good form and find the winning goal for his team.
Gift Raikhan, Head Coach, Neroca, expressed his views, "We are really not happy that we lost the last match. The team played a really good game. We dominated play for the most part of the game and even scored our two goals before Punjab could do so. "
"It is football and we will have to again plan, recreate and re-strategize. We have to look at the Churchill match as an opportunity and though they have very good players we will fight for every ball," Raikhan rounded off.
The match will be broadcast live on 1Sports as well as streamed on FanCode app from 5 p.m. IST.
( With inputs from IANS )