Jamshedpur FC head coach sounded confident as his team gears up to face Bengaluru FC in the Hero Super Cup semi-final at the EMS Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode, Kerala on Friday.

Both teams are coming into the final by topping their respective groups but have had different results to look back onto. Bengaluru FC drew twice and earned a win in their Group A fixtures, meanwhile, Jamshedpur FC won all three of their Group C matches, becoming the only team to win all their matches of the Hero Super Cup group stage.

The winning streak has boosted the confidence in the Men of Steel camp but now they'll be facing Hero ISL finalist Bengaluru FC, one of the most in-form teams of 2023. Aidy Boothroyd stated how he's pleased with the team's attacking play in the group stages and how he's looking forward to the next game.

“I’m very pleased with the group stages. But it’s finished now and it means nothing. We’ve been working as hard as we could, scored 11 goals, pleased with our attacking play and overall I’ve really enjoyed the tournament and looking forward to the next game.” Boothroyd said in the pre-match press conference.

Bengaluru FC is ending their season on a high after winning the Durand Cup, finishing runners-up in Hero ISL and now competing for the second trophy of the season. Boothroyd talked about the Blues' strong campaign and his plans to exploit the opponents' weaknesses.

“Very much so (looking forward to the semi-final). I’ve known Simon (Grayson) for a very long time. We’ve competed in England many times. Bengaluru are a good team with a good manager. They won the Durand Cup and got to two semi-finals so they must be respected which our opponents always are but we have to come up with a plan to nullify their strengths and exploit their weaknesses so we’ll be working hard to do that.” he commented.

After the 10th place finish in the Hero ISL 2022-23 season, Jamshedpur FC are turning the tables and the performances have significantly improved with brilliant displays against fellow Hero ISL participants FC Goa and then the 3-0 victory against the Hero ISL champions ATK Mohun Bagan. Boothroyd shed light on how the team is focused on ending the season on a high. 

“It’s really important to finish well in the Super Cup because we want to win every single game we play and quite rightly so we didn’t have a good start in the Hero ISL but I think we’ve picked up and been very good, scored a lot of goals, won a lot of games and really we don’t want the season to end and it’s really important for us to finish on a high.” Boothroyd said.

The Men of Steel started the Hero Super Cup campaign on the back of a difficult season in Hero ISL but the performances in the Hero Super Cup have turned the team's fortune. The only team to win all three fixtures while also scoring the most number of goals (11), Boothroyd talked about his satisfaction with the attacking performances of the team while being mindful of the goals that the team have conceded in return.

“The lads that are playing have scored 11 goals so we’re very happy with our attacking output. Few more clean sheets would be nice." he concluded.

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Jamshedpur FC2022-2023