In the third round of the I-League 2011-12, Chirag United Kerala will face Pune FC in an away game at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune on Tuesday. This will be Chirag United's third straight away tie, while it is the vice-versa for the Red Lizards who will be playing in front of their home crowd for the third time in the season.
The Kerala team have began the season on a very positive note after winning their opening match against HAL SC 1-0 at Bangalore, thanks to the winner from Vineeth CK and then putting up a good fight against title favourites McDowell Mohun Bagan before going down 2-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium.
Meanwhile, Pune FC have garnered two points from their two outings - a goalless draw to Shillong Lajong FC and a four goal thriller against Sporting Clube de Goa. The Pune outfit will be desperate to turn their fortunes with a win against United Kerala on Saturday,
Pune FC coach Derrick Pereira admitted that they have a big challenge in Chirag United Kerala and praised the team's performance in the first two matches. "Chirag United put up a good fight in their last match versus Bagan and played pressing football, which leaves us to simply put our best foot forward in winning three points," he was quoted as saying.
The previous meeting between the two sides produced a cracker of a match as eight goals scored could not break the parity between the sides. That match which ended 4-4 could have been the match of the 2010-11 season, while Pune FC snatched a last minute equalizer to hold the Kerala side at Kannur.
Shahinlal Meloly, the custodian from Kozhikode and former Viva Kerala player, will guard the goal for Pune FC,while Karma Tsewang and Othallo Tabia have also once played in Viva Kerala colours. Four former Pune FC players could feature for Chirag United Kerala in the match against their former employers. Krishnan Nair Ajayan who captained PFC last time both teams met will lead the Chirag Kerala team against his previous club. Other ex-PFC players in the Kerala side are G Vignesh, Gurjinder Singh and Manoj TM.
Chirag are placed sixth in the I-League table with three points from two matches, while Pune FC are tenth with two points form same number of matches.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Tuesday 1 November 2011, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.