Jamshedpur FC head coach Owen Coyle believes a tough challenge in the form of Mumbai City FC is ahead of them for which they are prepared and ready as they take them on at Athletic Stadium, Bambolim in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) on Thursday.

The Men of Steel have amassed 12 points in the last five matches, placing them fourth on the standings in 14 matches. However, in the reverse fixture, Mumbai City FC had the better of Jamshedpur, beating them 4-2.

Ahead of Jamshedpur FC’s clash against Mumbai City FC, coach Coyle addressed the media during the official pre-match press conference.

Here are the excerpts from the press conference.

Your comments on the character of Mumbai City which helped them recover from a rough patch?

It tells us that from the mentality point of view they have a very strong mentality but I know that because within the leadership they have good people in their staff and people are very knowledgeable and know. Even in their difficult period, they were still picking up draws here and there. Even in the narrow games they lost they could easily have won, so, as I said the margins were very fine so Mumbai wasn't doing a lot wrong but obviously, whatever it was they've corrected it and they're looking very strong now or obviously as we do. The main goal in the game will be to make sure that we're at our best and be very respectful of the quality they have which we have to be ready for. With Igor Angulo, Cassio, Jahouh and some wonderful young Indian players including Chhangte and Bipin Singh. They know Jamshedpur FC can go toe-to-toe with anybody.

What are your thoughts on the win against Kerala Blasters FC?

Yeah, it was always going to be a very tough game for us as Kerala Blasters are a wonderful side with an outstanding coach whom I have had a lot of time with. So, we knew from the first whistle to the last, we'd have to be focused and concentrated which we were. We ended up being the winners. Now that the game is behind us, what we have to do is make sure we get ready for an equally tough game against Mumbai City FC who have come through a difficult period, they had shown wonderful qualities to do that. They have a young coach, Des Buckingham, who is set for a wonderful career and has so much time ahead of him and they've got wonderful players. So, it's going to be a very tough game but it's one that we're looking forward to. We know that if we're at our very best we can win games against tough teams and top teams and that's what we look to do it's getting to the business end of the season every direct rival is playing each other. It's all to play for and we have to make sure we're at our very best.

What has been the effect on the players around Chima being as good as the in-form striker?

I think that's a very important point. Daniel Chima has done wonderfully since he has come in and Greg Stewart's been outstanding all season. Both of them will have Jordan Murray as well with them when he will be fit and available along with Ishan Pandita. But all these boys will tell you you know they're only as good as their teammates who have helped them, supplied them with passes. If you look at Chima’s last two goals, young Boris puts a great ball from the flank against Bengaluru FC and even against Kerala Blasters FC with a great ball to him along with a good pullback for Chima. Even Greg came in with some exciting chances when he had the ball with him but again he's only as good as their teammates. The important thing is that we think we have talented individual players but our strength is as a group everybody together and that's what we like to do. We have to be our best that's for sure against a very good Mumbai team.

The team has had 10 different goal-scorers, is it one of the motivating factors?

I think it's important that you have goals from different areas of the team and you're not one dimensional and we have that in young Boris, Len Doungel, Komal Thatal scoring for the club, although we're missing Komal and even Farukh Choudhary for the entire season so we've missed some big players for us but the group is continuing whether it's an injury or suspension. Ritwik is yet to score and it is time for him to step up to score. We have wonderful talent and abilities and we give players opportunities that are important moving forward.

How difficult will be the selection when Jordan Murray is match fit?

Line-up selection is already a headache with Ishan Pandita in the same position as Chima. And then Jordan is a starter who has shown that he's an outstanding player. So that gives real competition between Chima, Jordan and Pandita who has been wonderful and I've got to say as well in terms of how he is within the group, he is just an outstanding young man.