Yet to taste their first win in the championship phase of the I-League, RoundGlass Punjab FC have their job cut out when they take on an unpredictable Rajasthan United FC in their third match at the Kalyani Municipal Stadium in Bengal on Friday.
Punjab FC will take the field on the back of a 2-2 drawn tie against Mohammedan Sporting Club, while Rajasthan United FC lost to Churchill Brothers in their previous outing. Punjab had gone down 0-2 to Gokulam Kerala FC in their opening game of the championship phase.
On the other hand, Rajasthan, who were the final team to qualify for the play off stage, kicked off their championship phase with a 2-0 win over Neroca FC.
Punjab and Rajasthan had earlier met in the opening round of this season's competition, with the Gurtej Singh-led side running out 2-0 winners through goals from Kurtis Guthrie and Aphaoba Singh.
Ahead of the crucial encounter, Punjab FC coach Ed Engelkes said that his side will approach the fixture with the same intensity, while reminding his boys to treat each of the remaining four matches as finals.
"The team is determined to play a good match again, with the right approach. Our preparation is not much different as compared to previous games and our performance was okay in the last match," he said.
"Rajasthan United will be prepared and so shall we. We will give our best, play our game and see at the end of the match if it is enough."
The 58-year-old added, "We want to win all our remaining fixtures. These are four finals that we have ahead of us, and we want to take things one game at a time."
Forward Denzil Kharshandi reiterated that the team has planned to take one game at a time and thus the focus is on collecting maximum points from each of the remaining four outings.
"All of us are very motivated, working hard in training and giving our best. We want to gain maximum points from our remaining matches in the I-League. Friday's match will be an intense and competitive match, and we are looking forward to it," he said.
Rajasthan United FC head coach Francesc Bonet expects his boys to come hard at the opponents, which boasts of a number of seasoned campaigners.
"We are ready for the match. We learnt from (the mistakes made) in the last match, and the focus is on playing the full game to get the best out of the boys. Hope this time we can have a match where most of the time the ball is played. This will be better for us and all," he said.
