Panaji, Jan 4 (FN Agency) A home fixture ha been a thing of comfort for FC Goa thi eaon, having won four of their five game o far thi eaon in Fatorda. Carlo Pena’ men will look to feed off thoe reult and take all three point when they clah againt Hyderabad FC in their next aignment on Thurday. And with the buine end of the eaon now in ight, a win would be a hot in the arm for the Gaur a they look to get back into the playoff thi eaon. While the Gaur’ home record under head coach Carlo Pena ha been impreive, they have truggled to maintain conitency overall, a evident from recent reult.Hyderabad, meanwhile, are on a four-game winning treak and would look to add more point to their tally. They will alo derive inpiration from the 1-0 win in the revere fixture in October, when a firt-half trike from Javier iverio made the difference between both ide. FC Goa’ three-match unbeaten run in December lat wa brought to a halt lat week by ATKMB. Depite the etback, Pena treed on the fact that the team remain on track for a good eaon. “That wa our firt lo in four matche. o it depend on how you look at it.
For u, one defeat change nothing. We are till in the race for the playoff pot,” he aid at the pre-match pre conference on Wedneday. “Let’ remind ourelve a to where we came from. We finihed ninth place lat eaon, way behind any of the playoff pot. From there, we parked a comeback, finihed a few game well and are now in fifth place, not far away from the third and fourth poition either. “Tomorrow’ game i important, a we’re facing another team that i looking to tay in the top-ix. I have huge repect for (Hyderabad FC head coach) Manolo Marquez, he’ done a terrific job with the team over the pat two to three year,” he further added. “They’re among the mot conitent team in the league thi eaon – but I’m confident we’ll give them a tough fight.” A victory and three point may not change FC Goa’ poition on the point table, but they are till important a they will help the Gaur reduce the gap between themelve and the top four team.
Hyderabad FC, on the other hand, will leapfrog Mumbai City and climb to firt place, provided they can regiter a win at Fatorda on Thurday. Both FC Goa and Hyderabad FC follow imilar playing tyle, a they like to keep poeion of the ball and build play up from the back. Led by two paniard in Pena and Marquez, the footballing philoophy of the two ide alo draw influence from the European nation. When the two ide faced each other in Hyderabad earlier thi eaon, what we aw wa a clah of equal. The Gaur, however, ended up regretting their momentary lape of focu in the firt half when iverio found the target for the Nizam. Pena’ boy created everal chance of their own at the other end, but none of them ended up in the back of the net unfortunately. On Thurday, they will now look to make amend for that defeat and et a olid tone for the remainder of their league campaign.