NORTHEAST LOOK FOR MAIDEN PLAY-OFFS SPOT

GUWAHATI : Northeast United FC would look to seal a maiden playoffs spot when they host FC Pune City FC in Indian Super League match here on Wednesday.

The Eelco Schattorie’s team is one of the four that has lost just three matches this season. The Highlanders have picked up 27 points from 16 matches and sit third on the table.

A 2-0 win over Mumbai City FC in their last game should give them the confidence to overcome the threat posed by a resurgent Pune. Northeast have not qualified for the play-offs of the ISL in the earlier editions.

“I didn’t mention anything to the players about qualifying. I really take it game by game because if I look back at the last 10 games, the number of times I had to shuffle to make the best possible eleven, it was almost 10 games,” said Schattorie.

With 12 goals, Bartholomew Ogbeche remains the key player for Northeast and he is two goals shy of equalling Ferran Corominas. He has the support of Federico Gallego, who is joint-second on the list of most assists and new recruit Panagiotis Triadis who has had an impact in the attacking third.

After a bad start to the season, Pune have regained form under new head coach Phil Brown. Their last defeat came in November, against Bengaluru FC. Since then, the Stallions have won four out of five matches and are seventh on the table with 18 points.

Brown has breathed life into a squad that now stands an outside chance of bagging a spot in the play-offs but they are counting upon Northeast and Mumbai losing points in their remaining games.

Striker Robin Singh grabbed a brace as Pune defeated Jamshedpur in their last match and has been a threat up front in recent games. Ashique Kuruniyan has been a menace from the wings. Even though Marcelinho picked up his fourth yellow card against Jamshedpur FC and remains suspended, Brown will look for a fourth consecutive win away from home. As for Northeast, they wouldn’t want to let go of this chance to achieve qualification for the first time.