Shillong: Buoyant after defeating Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan in their own background, a confident Chennai City will look to repeat the same when they face Shillong Lajong at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Friday.
“Mohun Bagan is a very organised team and beating them has automatically raised our confidence,” said coach V Soundarajan. But continuing the winning momentum is his aim after beating a side he thought ‘made them feel like winning the World Cup.’
But for a team that had just won one in the last six encounters with four losses, beating Bagan has suddenly revitalised their shape and blooming with confidence Soundarajan expects his boys to carry on the momentum.
“Winning against Mohun Bagan was a big achievement for us but none of that will matter if we lose to Lajong in tomorrow’s game” he added in his pursuit of boosting the confidence of his boys.
Chennai goalkeeper Uros Poljanec often guilty of conceding soft goals however stood up to the task when it mattered the most against Bagan and confident of repeating the same result against the ‘Highlanders’ he said, “We will do our best to achieve good results. It is a very important game for us.
Although positioned eight with just seven points despite beating Bagan, a win here will however take them closer to sixth and Poljanec added, “We simply must go forward and collect points.”
Lajong on the other hand had a great start with two wins in two but since then have succumbed to four defeats in the next five, that culminated with a 0-3 loss to Indian Arrows. Coach Bobby Nongbet however was clear of his intents when he said, “We are heading into the match with the hope of winning another three points.”
The ‘Highlanders’ will miss centre-back Juho Oh who suffered a gruesome injury against the Arrows and may be replaced by Kenstar Kharshong. But despite the changes Nongbet warned, “We have a game plan worked out and although We understand that the task will not be easy, we have all worked very hard for this.”