The Kerala Blasters were pretty impressive in their first match under new manager Terry Phelan, pounding the then league leaders FC Pune City with attack after attack and eventually picking up a comfortable victory.
Phelan will hope the same trend continues when the Kerala Blasters play Atletico de Kolkata in a crucial ISL 2015 encounter in Kochi on Diwali Tuesday.
Having made a horrible start to their campaign, a win was essential for Kerala to keep those hopes of qualifying for the semifinals alive, and they did just that with Chris Dagnall and Sanchez Watt scoring in a 2-0 win over Pune.
In reality, that game should have ended up 5-0 or 6-0 in favour of the hosts, such was the dominance of Phelan's team. The challenge now is to repeat that performance against Atletico de Kolkata, after nearly a week off.
"It's a happy camp at the moment, the players are excited and they know what to do," Phelan said. "Yes I do think that the boys will be fresh coming into this game. It will be nice to play up and fresh and we will see how it goes."
Despite their last win, the Kerala Blasters remain bottom of the standings, but Atletico de Kolkata are also not having the greatest of times at the moment, with Antonio Lopez Habas' men losing to NorthEast United FC in their last game.
The champions will want to bounce back from that shock defeat, and Phelan is wary of a backlash.
"Kolkata are coming back from a defeat and we are aware of that," Phelan added. "I think every game is a big game henceforth, every game we go into we have to go into it with the right attitude.
"We will be going into this game with the right attitude and to get the three points. If you can manage two or three wins in the next game it will propel you to the top half.
"We are very confident that we can go out there and grab the three points."
Confidence is not something that is flowing in the Atletico de Kolkata camp at the moment, but Habas needs to reinforce that defence again, the bedrock of their success last season, while finding a way to score goals.
Despite Iain Hume's good form up front, Kolkata have missed the services Helder Postiga, who has been injured since the opening match of the season. Postiga will not feature in this game, but Hume will certainly be up for it, considering it is against his former team and at the ground where he was cheered to the hilt last season.
Kolkata will also look to the 2-1 victory they managed in the reverse fixture. "Kerala wants to win right now and we also want to win," Habas said. "Two finalists last season. Both of us need a win, but we have the time and we have the points to recover and secure the top position. We have to be calm and not be nervous."
Where to Watch Live
Kerala Blasters vs Atletico de Kolkata is set to begin at 7 pm IST (2.30 pm BST, 9.30 am ET). Star Sports 2, Star Sports HD2, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD3, Star Gold (Hindi), Asianet Movies (Malayalam), Jalsha Movies (Bengali), Jaya Max (Tamil) and Suvarna TV (Kannada) will all broadcast the ISL 2015 match live in India. The Indian Super League action can also be watched via live streaming online in India, and over a 100 other countries, on Starsports.com and Hotstar.
Viewers in the UK, South East Asia, including Singapore and Hong Kong, can watch Kerala Blasters vs FC Pune City live on Star Gold, while audience in Canada can watch the Indian Super League 2015 game live on CBN and ATN.
Audience in Australia can watch the ISL 2015 game live on Fox Sports, while the online live stream option is on Foxtel. Viewers in the USA will be able to watch the match live on NGSN. Middle East and North Africa viewers will be able to catch the Indian Super League game live on OSN, with the live streaming option on OSN Play.
Eurosport will show the Indian Super League match live in Europe and South East Asia, while the Kerala vs Kolkata match can also be live streamed on Eurosport Player. Viewers in Sub Saharan Africa can watch the ISL 2015 game live on SuperSport and Zuku.
