ISL: Focus back on top spot battle for Goa farewell to Lobera

Panaji (Goa) : FC Goa will begin life without Sergio Lobera on Wednesday when they take on Hyderabad FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.

The Gaurs will look to keep up the momentum in order not to lose out in the race for the top spot which guarantees a berth in the AFC Champions League group stages.

The management took the decision to part ways with Lobera and instead have appointed Clifford Miranda as the interim coach with Derrick Pereira as the technical director. "My focus is on keeping the team together, to play together as a team as always, focus on each and every game. We have the quality in the team but our mindset has to be right.

"When I stepped out to the training field, I saw that there was positive energy among the players, considering the situation. I respect these players and the way they responded to the training. Every day it has been the same attitude by the players, which gives a lot of satisfaction," said Pereira.

Goa have been amongst the most prolific teams this season with 32 goals in 15 matches. This will be the penultimate home game of the season for Goa and they would look to iron out any issues in the game before the play-offs.

Midfielder Edu Bedia remains suspended with four bookings but influential midfielder Ahmed Jahouh will return to provide Goa with a cushion ahead of the four-man defence.

Amongst the top three teams, Goa have conceded the most - 20 with Bengaluru FC (9) and ATK (10). Meanwhile, Hyderabad FC have six points from 15 matches and need another four to avoid having the worst points tally after 18 matches in an Indian Super League (ISL) season.

What would concern coach Javier Lopez is that his team haven't kept a clean-sheet all through the campaign and have the worst defensive record with 33 goals leaked in.

They are coming into the game on the back of a 1-0 defeat to Bengaluru FC, a game in which they missed a penalty and were denied on a couple of occasions by goalkeeper Gurpreet Sandhu.