Friday’s Maha Derby will see FC Pune City travel away to face Mumbai City FC at the Mumbai Football Arena. The Stallions will be hoping to register their first win of the campaign, which will help them gain some much-required momentum in their pursuit of qualifying for the play-offs.

Ahead of the awaited clash, indiansuperleague.com caught up with English international Matt Mills to uncover his thoughts on playing in the Hero ISL and the importance of a victory against the Islanders. Here are the excerpts:

What are your first impressions of playing in the Hero ISL?

Yeah, for me obviously the first game was a good experience, lovely stadium, pitch was good. Not the performance we wanted but to take a point away from home, I think we have to take that as a positive step and hopefully we can build on that with a victory tomorrow.

Any major takeaways from the game against Delhi Dynamos FC?

There were things that we’ve worked on in training; some things worked, some things didn’t work, and we’ve been trying to sharpen up on those over the break and hopefully, that will pay dividends tomorrow.

How important is it for the team to get their first win against Mumbai?

Yeah for sure, I think all the teams set out to get three points as quick as possible, we’re no different. Like I said, a point on the road isn’t too bad but tomorrow’s a big game for us with it being a derby and obviously, we’re looking for the first win.

How have your teammates helped you settle? Anyone in particular that you’ve formed a bond with?

Obviously Humey (Iain Hume), played in England before, I spoke to Wes Brown who played with him in Kerala and we’ve been speaking on Whatsapp before I even came to India so yeah that was obviously an easy friendship to make and obviously living with all the foreign guys in the hotel where you know we have dinner together, we’re with each other all the time so again, easy to get on with, easy to make friends and I’ve really connected with obviously the Indian players, they’re a good laugh and we have fun.

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