Unable to sneak into the top-four so far with just two wins from 11 matches, former champions Chennaiyin FC would look for full three points when they take on SC East Bengal in an Indian Super League game, here on Monday.
Chennaiyin have lost just one of their last seven matches. That seems quite impressive, but they also have had five draws, on par with their opponents SC East Bengal. Only NorthEast United have played more draws this season than the two teams.
Chennaiyin head coach Csaba Laszlo hoped his team would do better as the league moves towards the business end.
"We had a lot of draws where we could have won games but I think we will get stronger in the second part of the season and I hope that the team will show, not just their fighting spirit, but also that we can score more goals and win games," he said.
Chennaiyin endured many injuries this season, but the coach sounded positive.
"We have players waiting to show their talent and the atmosphere and chemistry in the team is good," he said.
SCEB's new signing Bright Enobarkhare has made a huge impact for the Kolkata side, who have managed to crawl their way higher after spending most of the first part of the league at the bottom.
SCEB are unbeaten in their last six games, and coach Robbie Fowler's team is now just five points below the play-off position.
Fowler believes his side can make it through to the play-offs.
"There are plenty of positives we can gather. There are a lot of points to play for and we'll continue to try and get those points. So until it's mathematically impossible, we will go on believing that we can do it.
"We are taking baby steps to get to where we believe we should and want to be. We got to keep going and keep doing what we got to do. Let's not lose games and that's what we are trying to do," added Fowler.
