I-League Media Team

GOA: Salgaocar Football Club coach Derrick Pereira wants to pick as many available points as possible to safeguard themselves as they prepare to take on Sporting Clube de Goa in a Hero I-League clash at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Sunday.

Salgaocar are placed sixth on the table with 14 points, the same as Mumbai FC, but they still have too matches in hand. Derrick knows that the gap between them and the rest is too little and will need to add more points to be comfortable in the league.

“We are not in the title race anymore so the best we can do is to safeguard our position. We need more points,” said Derrick.

Salgaocar lost their previous clash against Pune FC, although Derrick believes it was one match they should have had in their pocket. “We missed several chances, hit the crossbar twice and conceded a goal on the counter. This has been our problem; we have done well but not taken our chances upfront,” said the Salgaocar coach.

Sporting Clube on the other hand have failed to get off the blocks and continue to remain winless in this year’s edition. They are at the bottom of the pool and coach Matthew D’Costa was optimistic of his side’s chances on the eve of the clash in the Goan derby.

“We have been training hard and have played well. In our last few matches we created plenty of chances but failed to score. We have been focussing on our attacking play and I am confident that tomorrow will be the day when our fortunes change”, he remarked.

The bottom-placed team will rely on the striking prowess of Nigerian striker Odafa Okolie who has been quietly getting back into shape. He found the mark against Dempo Sports Club but their Goan rivals spoiled the party with a goal in the last minute of play.

Sporting Clube are at the bottom of the pool with 7 points from 13 matches.

Kick-off: 19-04-2015@ 7 PM
 

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