The Gaffer talks about the approach of the team for the final game against Bengaluru FC and the positives of the team from the current season of the ISL. Owen Coyle also talks about the tough mid-season of Jamshedpur FC and areas the club will focus on to improve for the next season.

Here are the excerpts from the pre-match interview:

On the team’s approach for the final game of the season

We are approaching the game as we did the last time as we want to replicate the performance we showed in the game against Mumbai City FC. We have to be at our very best. The lads have worked very hard to come close to achieving the play-offs spot and we have to finish the season on a strong note. We have to play very well to do so to grab the 3 points. Bengaluru FC also have the AFC Championship Cup left to play, so they will be very focused and we have to make sure we are ready for the game and this challenge.

On the takeaways from the current season

There is no doubt that we have improved enormously from where we were last season. In terms of our aspirations which was to reach the playoffs, it is disappointing as we came very close to achieving the top 4 spot. I believe a number of things and circumstances went against us. That being said, we have also shown that we can go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the league like Mumbai City FC and ATK Mohun Bagan, who have huge budgets every season to spend in the transfer markets, and we have also crossed our record of ‘Most Clean Sheets’ this season. So, there are many positives to take away and all we have to do now is finish the season strong; and adding to that, we have shown how organized & structured we are and what we have to do is be even more creative. There are things that we will continue to work on to progress in and get better at. We are certainly looking forward to the next season to make sure we push ourselves into the top 4 position.

On what went wrong which resulted in a poor form mid-season for the club

I think after we came back from the long break, all of the games we played were lost by very fine margins. We also made some individual errors in those games, but it is not about a few games as we were in isolation when we were on our unbeaten run and how we were denied the goal that we scored against FC Goa which could have turned that number into 7 unbeaten games, taking us to the next game. We scored in the 89th minute and it was not like we scored in the first 5 minutes of the game, which was disallowed thus costing us the 3 points and breaking our unbeaten run. So, there were loads of circumstances that went against us but let us not sit here and talk about the past. We have improved enormously and there is still more progress to be made which is what we will continue to do.

On the areas the team should improve on in the upcoming seasons

I think we have to make sure we have that solidity and focus that we had in our clean sheet games as we have progressed on that in the season, in the initial games where we conceded goals which we have to rectify. Then we conceded some goals after the break but we came back stronger with what we do best, that is maintaining the clean sheets. However, if we want to be better, we have to bring more creativity so that we achieve that balance between keeping a strong backline while also being very creative in the front to score more goals. If we can keep those clean sheets, we also should be able to score which will result in 3 points in each game which we aspire to win.

Message to the fans of Jamshedpur FC for the last game and the season

We obviously want to bring the same smile to the fans' faces which we did when we won against Mumbai City FC the other night, ATK Mohun Bagan back in December and also the other big moments which we had in the season. So, we aim to finish as strong as we possibly can. I would like to say a big thank you to the fans for their outstanding and unwavering support. The players, the staff and everyone certainly felt that love and we look forward to seeing you at the stadium next season which we will fill out for our home games. We want to give them a team who they enjoy watching, a team that can win and a team that they will watch qualify for the playoffs which will be our aim moving forward.