Derick Periera says team needs to believe in themselves and continue like in the last rounds

CHURCHILL BROTHERS HEADED BY COACH DERICK Periera will be facing Mumbai FC in a battle to avoid relegation. Derick accepted that it was really important for both teams to get a good result in this fixture and said his team has really worked hard during the break.

On the question whether the rhythm of good form that the team had before going into the break could take a hit because of it,the Churchill coach replied in the negative saying,

"We have been practicing together except for a few players who missed out because of personal reasons and we played a practice match against Dempo. Players are fit except for Rowilson who has a cut on his foot. The last practice was on an astro turf and they looked good"

Periera elaborated on how the team will approach the game saying,

"We have to focus on our game and keep believing in ourselves the way we played in the last few rounds, do our best play in our style and I think we will do well"

Oscar Bruzon, the new Mumbai FC Coach, has been given charge of the team after Santosh Kashyap had been sacked after the humiliating loss by DSK Shivajians with only four games remaining. Derick was asked how tough it was for a coach to come in so late in the role that Oscar has taken up, he replied,

"I think I was fortunate to being given charge of Churchill much earlier in the season. I was also in the same position as Oscar when I took charge of Churchill but had many more matches than Oscar. It's a tough ask for a coach. Football is a team game and you need time to build a team. They need to win all matches I suppose and it's not easy"

Anthony Wolfe, Churchill striker accompanied the coach and was posed a question on how things have worked differently after Derick joining the team and he shared saying,

"I think it's his experience with the Indian teams and players respect him a lot. He does take feedback from players and even the players have good feedback about him. It is the collective effort from the team"

Derick shared his thoughts the effect of clubs not playing or being relegated has on the city and state saying that he always looked up to bigger clubs in the city when he was a kid. He said it deprives players a chance to play for a club in their own country or state.