Kerala Blasters FC head coach Terry Phelan has urged his players to play for pride when they take the field for the last time in the 2015 Hero Indian Super League against Delhi Dynamos FC on Thursday. Kerala are already out of semi-final contention with 12 points from 13 matches and Phelan said ending their season on a high will be at the forefront of their mind against the Lions at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.“The performances have been great. Rival coaches have talked about how we have been playing. But we have let ourselves down with poor goals conceded. It’s about pride now. We need to play to our capabilities and hopefully we get off the bottom of the table,” Phelan told reporters on Wednesday.“Delhi is a good team. We lost to them earlier in the season at home. It happens in football. We have to worry about ourselves. Of course, they’re a quality team but we need to win the game. It’s about getting off the bottom of the table. If we do, it’s no disgrace. We’ve tried our best. We want the three points. Don’t want it to be a waste of time.”From the high of playing the final last year to being bottom-dwellers this season, Kerala have seen a big dip in their fortunes. When asked what brought about this, assistant coach Trevor Morgan, who sat alongside Phelan at the press conference, said: “That’s football. Look at Chelsea - the same set of players from last season. Football goes around in cycles. I think we scored less number of goals this season but defensively we were better last season. This season, we haven’t done too well in defence and conceded poor goals.”Phelan replaced Peter Taylor midway through the season and when asked what he would have done differently had he been in charge from the start, the former Irish defender said: “I have enjoyed myself here. The lads have given their 100%. They’ve played a brand of football that fits Kerala Blasters FC. I wasn’t there from the beginning so I can’t say what I would have done differently. To play with no fear, get the ball forward. That’s what we have tried to do. Not just me, Trevor, all the staff. It’s been a good ride.”Phelan was overall happy with the development of Indian players in the Blasters team. “Still a lot of education to be done. You can’t take anything away from them. The standard has got better from last season. Yeah, they need a little more game intelligence. But culture education gets better with time. They’ve got great experience this time,” he said.
