Kerala Premier League: Kovalam caught in devil-and-the-deep-sea before semifinal against Gokulam Kerala

Till a few days in the past, the Kovalam FC gamers weren’t positive whether or not they can be coming to Kalpetta for the Kerala Premier League soccer’s semifinals.

They had completed fifth within the super-six section and regardless of group runner-up Kerala Police, opting to journey to Srinagar for the B.N. Mullik All-India Police match, leaving its KPL semifinal spot vacant. Rather a lot dialogue was held earlier than Kovalam received a confirmed last-four berth.

This yr has been a memorable one for Kovalam.

The 15-year-old membership, full of younger and brilliant faces, not solely made its maiden KPL super-six entry, it climbed a step increased.

“I consider this (KPL semifinal entry) as a lottery. In fact, we are a team that was fighting to avoid relegation,” Ebin Rose, Kovalam’s head coach, instructed Sportstar on Monday.

Despite the historic climb, there’s additionally a tinge of unhappiness.

“We had a chance to win the Development League (currently on in Ernakulam). Our KPL team also plays in the Reliance Foundation Development League but now that are playing the KPL semifinals, we will be forced to field younger players there,” stated Rose, a former Kerala Santosh Trophy star.

“We’re caught in a devil-and-the-deep-sea sort of situation.”

Kovalam had only one win in KPL’s super-six however it was a surprising 3-0 verdict over the sturdy Kerala United.

How did Kovalam handle it?

“The Kottapady Stadium (at Malappuram), a small ground, offers us a big advantage. We train on a similar-sized pitch back home. So we had that advantage when we played Kerala United, the space was less,” defined Rose.

“With that sort of space, our players moved faster, went for shorter passes and that helped build confidence. Bigger grounds offer big teams an advantage but that turns out to be a disadvantage for us.”

Kovalam will face Gokulam Kerala, towards whom it suffered a 4-0 thrashing within the tremendous six earlier, within the first of the KPL’s double-leg semifinals on the M.Ok. Jinachandran Stadium right here on Tuesday.

“I believe we will not concede so many goals like last time though the Kalpetta ground is a big one. My players are good individually and as a team they are good at short passes but link play is an area where we have some difficulty,” stated Rose.

“And since I was in Gujarat for my ‘A’ licence course, I could work on them only for a couple of days. Had I got around two weeks we would have given a fight.”