Jamshedpur FC head coach Owen Coyle wants his side to maximise the chances created and not let them slip as the barest of margins in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) can cost them a spot in the top-four at the end of the season.

Winless in their last three encounters, Coyle’s side now shifts their focus on NorthEast United FC as they lock horns with them on Thursday at Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, Goa.

Ahead of his side’s clash against NorthEast United FC, Coyle addressed the media during a pre-match press conference.

Here are the excerpts from Coyle’s press conference:

Thoughts on the next opponent, NorthEast United FC?

Yeah, I think NorthEast United are always a very tough opponent, as they showed that last time out against Mumbai City FC. Deshorn, someone whom I have known from my time in the American Leagues, is a great lad. And he had a tremendous form in the game and prior to that as well, they were unlucky as it ended 3-2 against ATK Mohun Bagan. NorthEast have come out of tough games and shown they can stand toe to toe with a good team.

So I am under no illusions of how tough the game would be. They'll get our utmost respect. Khalid is someone I like and has done very well with the team who has worked hard for him.

What are your thoughts on Hero ISL becoming one of the most entertaining leagues this season?

Yes, certainly it is. I have worked in the league now for three seasons and each year it keeps getting far more competitive than the last. This is the hallmark of a good league in which every team that's part of the league think that they can win on any given day.

And I think that's testimony to all the hard work that everybody has put in over the years, from the outset of ISL that the growth and quality that the league has seen. I've got to say, some of the individual goals scored this year and the quality showed, they would grace any other league.

When you think of obviously Greg's free-kick, Luna's long-range finish, Vasquez’s finish. Some unbelievable goals have been scored. Like Jahouh’s finish, and even Jerry’s goal in their fixture. So the individual skills, I think the league is certainly getting better all the time and the competitive nature. Everybody feels that they have a chance of being in those top four spots, and this is nearly halfway through the league.

That tells you that how tough the league can be. For our part, we have to focus on what we can do and we know when we are at our best that we can win games.

We have been very unfortunate in the last couple of games, which we probably should have won with the chances we had. So we have to get back onto that, getting those points.

Thoughts on how a win will be a good opportunity to build momentum for the remaining season?

I think that's what we’ll have to do. I've always said, it's not important where you are placed after 8-10 games but where you are after 20 games. But in the build-up to those 20 games, obviously the more points you take, it's common sense, the better chance we have. If we're honest and we have to be. We've had a couple of opportunities that we have let slip by when we should have had maximum points for games for the games we should have won. That's the margins in this league. We have to come to the right side, so we know we're capable of winning games. That's why we need to get back to being clinical in front of the goal.

I think we've had more goal attempts than anybody in the whole league, which tells you how we're playing outside and we have to watch and that's what we need moving forward, taking those chances, keep doing all the hard work and the spirit and everything else we have, being clinical in front of goal and if we do that, it’ll really work well for the second half of the season.