A Star-Studded Tournament with India and Pakistan Returns After 12
After Defeat The Gaurs Remained in Ninth place
FC Goa head coach Derrick Pereira was dejected after his team’s 1-2 loss against the SC East Bengal in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) match at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, Goa on Wednesday.
SCEB’s Naorem Mahesh Singh (9’) scored early in the game before Alberto Noguera (37’) leveled the score. Singh (42’) then scored the winner and helped SC East Bengal register their first win of the season.
With this defeat, the Gaurs remained in ninth place.
Pereira addressed the questions put forward by the media during the post-match press conference.
Here are the excerpts from the press conference:
You said SC East Bengal would be strong defensively. Was that the case as you couldn’t get the win?
We could not break their defense down, especially when we were chasing the game. We gave two soft goals, especially after equalizing. When we got the equalizer we definitely should have gone back. But we made another blunder at the back and conceded the goal and then they were defending deep in their half. We tried our best which was not good enough for us to get the desired result. But all credit goes to them for defending well against us.
Do you think a change in coach sometimes helps the team?
I think we were dominant throughout the match. We hardly gave them any chances at the back. Except for those two soft goals. Other than that, I think we were in control of the game. I think we should have kept our composure in front of the goal. We hurried in because our mentality is to win matches.
SCEB got two shots on target and scored twice. Would you blame your defense for that?
We were very casual at the back both the times and I think that has been an issue throughout the season, we concede soft goals and then we start chasing matches that hampered our position in the points table.
What are the positives you take from the game?
I have to sit back and think and look for the next match. The positives were, as usual, possession-wise we kept the ball. We need to make some changes to the team. We need to show more character on the pitch and get back to winning ways.