Defending champions Falcons TTC have blown hot and cold in Season 2 of the CEAT Ultimate Table Tennis Powered by Kellogg’s and find themselves at the bottom of the six-team table after two rounds.

They survived a scare in the opener against Maharashtra United before squeezing a 11-10 victory but they faltered miserably against Dabang Smashers losing 17-4, the biggest defeat by any team this season.

The Falcons are still hurting from the loss to Smashers and captain Liam Pitchford believes the setback should spur them and get their campaign back on track when they face Warriors TTC at the Thyagraj Stadium on Friday.

“Definitley nobody was happy the other night, so we are looking to put that right and get a victory tomorrow,” the World No. 49, who was the Most Valuable Player last season, said on Thursday.

Pitchford, a bronze medallist at the 2016 World Team Championship, has led from the front and is the only player in the squad who is undefeated this season. The foreign players Alvaro Robles (World No. 56), Matilda Ekholm (World No. 30) and Bernadette Szocs (World No. 36) have to turn in consistent displays for the Falcons to take top flight again.

“Everybody is preparing well, doing the things that they need to do. Hopefully, we can show that we can get back into the competition. Still three matches remaining so long way to go,” he added.

However, the 24-year-old Englishman cautions that the duel against Warriors will not be easy. “It’s going to be a tough match. We know they have got some strong players,” he said.

Warriors have arrived in the Capital on the back of a heart-warming 14-7 win over Empowerji Challengers in Pune after losing their first match against Smashers by a similar margin (7-14).

Captain Achanta Sharath Kamal is banking on the confidence gained from their last win to get past the Falcons and be in contention for a semi-final spot

“It’s an important match, if we beat the Falcons we have a good chance to be in the playoffs, so we are preparing well to face them,” said the eight-time National champion after a training session on Thursday. “Confidence in the team is pretty high after the win against Challengers. 14-7 was a good score and it has put us in the No. 3 position. Hopefully, we keep climbing places and we do well,” he added.

Tie date: June 22, 2018 (Friday)

Venue:Thyagraj Sports Complex, New Delhi

Head to head: Matches played 1, Warriors 0, Falcons 1

Season 2 record:Warriors Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1, Points 21; Challengers Played 2, Lost 2, Points 15

Players to watch out

Men: Sharath Kamal (World No. 47), Chuang Chih-Yuan (World No. 15), Liam Pitchford (World No. 49). 
Women: Sofia Polcanova (World No. 18), Matilda Ekholm (World No. 30)

Warriors TTC:

Men: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Ravindra Kotiyan, Chuang Chih-Yuan (Chinese Taipei), Aruna Quadri (Nigeria) World No. 22.

Women: Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, Sreeja Akula, Sofia Polcanova (Austria), Hana Matelova (Czech Republic) World No. 51. Coaches: Sandeep Gupta, Ferenc Karsai (Hungary).

Falcons TTC: 

Men: Sanil Shetty, Liam Pitchford (England), Alvaro Robles (Spain) World No. 56, Ronit Bhanja. 

Women: Bernadette Szocs (Romania) World No. 36, Matilda Ekholm (Sweden), Sutirtha Mukherjee, Priyadarshini Das. Coaches: Soumyadeep Roy, Vesna Ojstersek (Slovenia).