Atlético de Kolkata will be looking to book a semis berth in Hero Indian Super League 2016 when they host Kerala Blasters FC at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday. ATK currently occupy third spot in the standings with 18 points from 12 games and head into the contest knowing that a draw or win against the Blasters will be enough to secure a third consecutive semis appearance. Kolkata won their previous meeting against the Blasters earlier in the season courtesy of a Javi Lara goal and will be looking to do the double over the men in yellow on Tuesday.Speaking to the media ahead of the their second meeting this season, ATK head coach Jose Molina opined that a lot has changed within the Kerala ranks since then given they’ve won three out of their last four matches. “I think Kerala started their season playing more of long balls and now they’re playing with more combination, they have good players and they’re improving that’s why they’re still there in the competition for the semi-final places. In the beginning, they suffered two defeats and now they’re playing well and are in competition for the semis and I’m sure tomorrow will be a very good match because we have improved too, we have confidence in our players to do the job tomorrow and we will try to win,” Molina said.The 2014 winners head into the fixture on the back of a 2-1 win against FC Goa after Stephen Pearson scored deep into stoppage time to seal all three points. However, ATK could have put the game to bed a lot earlier with the amount of opportunities they created over the course of the 90 minutes. When asked if that gives him confidence considering how frequently his side are creating goal-scoring chances despite not always converting them, Molina said: “No (Laughs) what gives me confidence is their hard work and their willingness to keep improving and help ATK. Of course, we had a good game in Goa, we scored two goals and we could have scored more. The players have to keep improving and play well, defend well it doesn’t matter who they play, they should score as many goals as possible and suffer as less as possible. Goals will come whenever we convert the chances into goals like Delhi did last night by scoring five goals (Laughs) the problem is when you don’t have chances, last match we had chances but the opponent goalkeeper was the best player of their team and made four-five great saves. But what is important is that we tried converting our chances and we will continue to do that tomorrow.”The 46-year-old Spaniard also revealed that several players from his side are in a race against time to be fit for the Kerala clash. “We have many injury problems some players are in doubt for tomorrow’s game. Sameehg Doutie is also in doubt because yesterday he had a little fever which is not good. Lalrindika Ralte, Bidyananda Singh and Henrique Sereno are also in doubt and we will have to see in training who will be the best possible players to start the game,” he said.Kolkata’s marquee player Helder Postiga also accompanied Molina to the press conference and made it clear that his side will be gunning for maximum points against Kerala tomorrow. “We will focus on getting three points because that’s our goal but we know it’s not gonna be easy since Kerala Blasters is a good team but we will try to get the win, all of us have been given this responsibility and we will try to the win,” Postiga said.The former Portugal international also lauded the progress made by Indian football over the past few years. “I feel Indian football has improved if compared to previous seasons, the quality of the players and games have improved. There are younger people as compared with previous seasons and it must be kept this way so that Indian football can improve further and you will see in a few years that this league will be in a fantastic position,” he said.
