Goa: With their unbeaten streak of two games snapped by a 1-2 defeat to Mumbai City, FC Goa will look to put their campaign back on track when they take on NorthEast United FC at the Fatorda Stadium here on Sunday.
Sixth with 19 points after 11 games, the ‘Gaurs’ have two games in hand over FC Pune City and Kerala Blasters on fourth and fifth. A win however can take them back to the fourth place. NorthEast on the other stand on the penultimate position with 10 points from the same no of matches.
“At this point of time, if they let me chose between 4th, 5th or 6th having played all the games or be in a position to have games in hand, I would prefer to have games in hand. That gives us an opportunity to climb up the table. I’m sure other coaches will prefer that too” Lobera said at the pre-match press conference.
The former Barcelona youth coach also brushed aside talks of pressure on his side with others overtaking them on the points table since they last played. “Pressure doesn’t exist for us at this point in time, for us, there is only excitement. Excitement to improve on the difficult season last year,” he said.
NorthEast United may have lost all hopes of making it to the playoffs, but their performance against the top teams have been over expectations. The ‘Highlanders’ have won just three games, but two of them against Chennaiyin and FC Goa.
It was 2-1 in NorthEast United’s favour when both the sides last met and although out of the play-offs contention they would still want to finish the season on a high. Under Grant, North East has seen a drastic change in fortune. They have provided glimpses of what they can do but still haven’t found any consistency.