Gameweek 9 will kick off with a meeting between high-flying Sreenidi Deccan FC and bottom-placed Kenkre FC here at the Naihati Stadium on Friday.
Sreenidi Deccan are in fine form, unbeaten in the last five games, and in third place at the moment. They were, however, held to a 1-1 draw by Churchill Brothers on Monday, ending their three-game winning run.
"We always go for the win but of course, we were up against a good team like Churchill," said coach Fernando Santiago Varela.
"There are still things we can do better. We want to improve our finishing and our defensive phases. But of course, we're in a good position in the table in our first season, which isn't easy," he added.
Winger Rosenberg Gabriel was handed his first start of the season against Churchill, for which he was grateful to the coach.
"It feels good to be here and play in the I-League, which is a dream come true. I'm getting to learn a lot here from the senior players. I want to improve my game and reach the top level," said the 23-year-old.
Regarding their opponents, Varela said, "Kenkre have some good players with I-League experience like Kenstar, Jishnu and Pravitto. We must move faster with the ball in attack and be in their half of the pitch."
Kenkre sit last in the table with just two points after seven games, but they've started to find some solidity in defence, letting in just two goals in their last three games. They were beaten 1-0 by Aizawl last time out and coach Akhil Kothari assessed that his side did create a lot more chances than their previous games, and should have made them count.
"It's important for us to be in control of the game throughout the 90 minutes. We want to improve our attack and capitalise on our chances," added Kothari.
With another challenging task coming up against Sreenidi Deccan, Kothari said, "Sreenidi are doing well in the I-League and have some good foreign recruits. We're looking at a progressive individual and team performance to try and get a good result tomorrow."
( With inputs from ANI )
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