Panchkula, March 11 (IANS) Having won the I-League 2022-23 title with a match to spare, RoundGlass Punjab will look to unbeaten at home and enthral their fans one last time with their skills as they take on Tiddim Road Athletic Union (TRAU) at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium, here on Sunday.
TRAU have secured a top-four finish for only the second time in their I-League history, but will have a chance to move up to third with a win should Gokulam Kerala lose to Sreenidi Deccan in the earlier kick-off.
Sunday’s match will be a good chance for coach Leimapokpam Nandakumar Singh to test his strategy and the ability of his boys against a strong team like RoundGlass Punjab, ahead of the Super Cup qualifiers next month.
Staikos Vergetis’s men would like to avenge the 2-0 defeat in Imphal, when these two teams met earlier this season in December. If TRAU manage to stop them, they will have the rare honour of being a team the I-League champions could not beat. But RoundGlass Punjab are in no mood to let one go.
“We would like to remain unbeaten at home. However, some players are really tired and I’d like to give chances to some who have not played much,” Vergetis said in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.
TRAU coach Nandakumar said,” I’m happy with our position on the table and I congratulate RoundGlass Punjab for their title victory. It’ll be good for us to play a team of that calibre.”
However, he said the win in the reverse fixture is unlikely to have a bearing on Sunday’s tie.
“In Imphal, they missed some good players because of injuries, and they’ve also improved a lot since then. We’re also going to miss some players because of suspensions,” he said.
–IANS
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