Churchill Brothers aim to extend lead atop I-League table

Churchill Brothers will aim to consolidate their four-point lead at the top of the Hero I-league table when they clash against second-placed TRAU at the Kalyani Municipal Stadium here on Friday.

With TRAU FC and Mohammedan SC hot on Churchill's heels, the Goan club will look to continue their winning streak and break free of the chasing pack by extending the lead to seven points with a win against TRAU.

"It is very important to keep winning and keep the momentum alive. However, each game is different and TRAU have a different style of playing football," Churchill Brothers coach Fernando Santiago Varela Varela said at the pre-match press conference.

"They (TRAU) have a very good coach and very good individual players like (Komron) Tursunov and (Joseph) Olaleye. We will have to be on our toes and will have to pay attention.

"We would like to impose our gameplay and hopefully get a positive result that would extend our lead further," he added.

TRAU have been a revelation this season. The Manipur-based club, built mostly around young Indian talent, is still undefeated in the league and have propelled themselves to second place after a hard-fought 2-0 win over Chennai City FC in their last match.

A win tomorrow would bring TRAU just a point behind table-toppers Churchill Brothers.

Chief coach Nandakumar said, "With the potential, we have in our squad, I am not surprised to see us second in the league. But, the important thing now is to maintain our rhythm and hold our position. Our aim is to finish top six first in the league and then think of other things."

"All I can say is that we are focused on the next match against Churchill. We will try to do our best to get three points. Perhaps it is too early to dub us as title contenders and we aim to take one match at a time.

"It just takes one mistake for Churchill to punish you. That is how good they are and it is always difficult to play against a very balanced and technically good team. We will have to be cautious against them as every moment is precious and be on our toes," he added.

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