Hyderabad FC and Punjab FC eye on their first victory when both the teams face in an Indian Super League match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, on Tuesday. The Nawabs and Punjab have just two points on board — who are placed at the bottom end of the table — will look to register their first win of the campaign.
Punjab pulled out draws against Jamshedpur and East Bengal, but lost to Chennaiyin and Mumbai City in the last two games. With the struggling defence, Punjab has conceded more goals than any other team in the league. Melroy Melvin is back after a suspension but Dimitris Chatziisaias will miss this game for the red card he picked up against Mumbai.
Luka Majcen and Juan Mera will be the danger men in attack while Krishnananda Singh, former HFC defender Nikhil Prabhu, Suresh Metei and Nitesh Darjee has all been consistent in Punjab’s squad.
“For me the Mumbai game shows the quality Punjab have,” said the HFC coach Conor Nestor.
“They were extremely unlucky not to pick up points. They are very well organised and have players who can hurt you,” he added.
Hyderabad, who has two points from their last two games, will hope to put in a dominant performance against Punjab. Jonathan Moya, Felipe Amorim, Joe Knowles and Aaren D’Silva are yet to find the back of the net while the Nawabs are also yet to keep a clean sheet, all of which they will look to change in this game.
The likes of Oswaldo Alanis, Nikhil Poojary, Chinglensana Konsham, and Nim Dorjee Tamang in front of Gurmeet Singh have been solid for most of the season but will have their work cut out against the likes of Majcen and Mera in Punjab’s attack.
“With the quick turnaround we have no preparing time just ‘recovery time. But that’s the demands of this league and we have to attack the game with intensity,” the coach said.
Both teams have found goals hard to come by so far this season but a strong performance in this game can lift either team a couple of places in the points table, making this a crucial game for two sides who are yet to find their best form.
This will be Hyderabad’s first ever visit to Delhi, and they will look to make it a memorable one.
