Neroca hopeful to make I-League match in Manipur memorable

The first Manipuri team to ply their trade in the Hero I-League, Neroca FC, will come out to host Chennai City FC at the Khuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal on Friday.

This is going to be the first-ever I-League encounter to be staged in the north-eastern state.

While Neroca FC come from an away win against Gokulam Kerala FC, Chennai City FC have had torrid away run so far.

The coach of Chennai FC, V Soundarajan, speaking to the media at the pre-match conference, said the team would give their best in the match as they were defeated in the two matches played earlier.

"We're not going to lose this tie at any point of time. We know, we had a very tough time until now but tomorrow might be our day here, who knows," Soundarajan said.

He added it was going to be their first home match of the Manipuri outfit and there would be a huge support for them.

"Our boys have gradually improved from their first outing so far and tomorrow we're surely going to dish out an impressive show in front of the strong support for Neroca FC. We have a strong base and we'll put more than 5 Chennai-based players and also the presence of two players from Manipur in the team will have some advantage on the team," the coach stated.

The coach of NEROCA FC, Gift Raikhan, said that his team was fully aware of the situation and they wanted to make the best out of it.

"Yes, we are aware of the emotional connect of the situation and we're surely going to push our limits to make the best out of it. We will give 100% effort to win the match. We know it's going to be the first I-League match to be played in our state but we should not get carried away by the occasion. We have to absolutely spot on," Raikhan said.

The match is scheduled to start at 2.00 pm.